Emanuel Brothers Spar Over Obamacare Rollout

Zeke recounts Rahm's teasing over ACA's problems

It’s no secret that for all of his political acumen, Rahm Emanuel doesn't like to take big chances.

It’s also no secret that when he’s proven right, Rahm’s not above a little trash talk on his opponents. Even if it’s his own brother, Zeke.

The USA today is reporting Chicago’s mayor and his bioethicist brother Zeke have clashed over the implementation of President Obama’s signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act.

Speaking to USA Today’s Capital Download program, the University of Pennsylvania professor says his brother enjoys a bit of gloating now and then over the law’s famous rollout problems:

"He thought we should have done something more incremental, that doing something comprehensive is not in the nature of the American health care system, and I thought doing something more comprehensive was absolutely essential to actually fixing the health care system," [Zeke said in an interview]. President Obama backed a comprehensive overhaul, but when the roll-out of the healthcare.gov exchanges went badly this fall, Rahm Emanuel wasn't shy about saying I-told-you-so.

"Ever call me? How about every day," Zeke Emanuel told the weekly video newsmaker series. He imitated the razzing query posed by his brother, now the mayor of Chicago: "How we doing, Zeke?"

Earlier this year, Zeke published a memoir of his experience growing up with Rahm and their other brother, Hollywood talent agent Ari.

“Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family” details the brothers’ famously combative yet supportive relationships, including their early years growing up in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.
 

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