Transcript
REPRESENTATIVE EMANUEL: Let me preface the discussion by stating the obvious: I don't think "politics" is a dirty word....Politics is a vital and essential element of our political system, the vehicle by which we advance our governing principles and policies.
Believe me, I'm not naïve. President Clinton made me a top aide in the White House not because of my good looks or charm and not because I was a top policy expert. No, I got to the White House the same way he did, through politics. And I'm not one who believes you can ever fully divorce politics from policy in a democracy, and it would be bad to do that. It would be like trying to separate physics from math or trying to do physics without math. Yet, I've always recognized that there's a basic balance, that we should never allow the basic functions and solemn responsibilities of government to be subjugated to or take a backseat to politics or party interest.
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