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Was Rahm 'Thrown Under The Bus' By President Obama Last Night?

 The embattled Chicago mayor was dinged by Barack Obama in prime time for his lack of support for Obamacare.
The embattled Chicago mayor was dinged by Barack Obama in prime time for his lack of support for Obamacare.
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Getty Images/The White House

CHICAGO — The Democratic National Convention has been providing unexpected fodder for Chicago's political tea readers.

First to send pundits atwitter was the appearance of Toni Preckwinkle seated prominently next to Bill Clinton on the convention's opening night. Was the Cook County board president being anointed for ... something?

Then came Wednesday night's victory lap for outgoing President Barack Obama, where an otherwise glowing video hagiography of the chief executive and his accomplishments included a pointed swipe at Rahm Emanuel, who was called out, by name, for counseling against Obamacare during his tenure as White House chief of staff.

"Thrown under the bus" comments immediately cropped up on social media.

The morning after, Emanuel brushed off the jab as old news.

But critics noted that Vice President Joe Biden had also initially been lukewarm about Obama's healthcare reform bill — and emerged unscathed in the video presentation. 

"[Obama] humiliated his former chief of staff before a national audience," Dylan Matthews wrote for the news website Vox.com. "It was a justified action ... but nonetheless startling in its brutality."

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