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Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told the Democratic Party Thursday that it needs to address the real problem facing the country — the economic struggles of young men.
In a column for The Washington Post, Emanuel, who also served as former President Obama’s chief of staff, instructed his fellow Democrats that if they really want to connect with Americans, they don’t need savvier marketing, but instead, they need to address the economic problems that are causing men shame and despair.
“This isn’t a marketing problem. It’s not just a matter of Democrats finding our own Joe Rogan, or making better use of TikTok, or using more ‘authentic’ language… if Democrats want to save our democracy while simultaneously fighting against economic inequality, we need to address the primary source of half the country’s humiliation and anger,” he said, pointing to young men and the housing crisis they’re facing.
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Emanuel explained that the U.S. has two overlapping crises, the lack of affordable housing and the “shame and anger” felt by many young men in this country.
“These patterns are two sides of the same coin. Just 30 years ago, the median age of first-time home buyers was 28. Today, it’s 38. In 2000, the typical price of a single-family home was three times a family’s annual income — today, it’s six times,” he wrote.
The former mayor stated that this is one of the primary reasons that “a full third of young adults now report a sense of despondency.”
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He continued, noting that men are particularly affected by this reality, whether Democratic figures want to admit it or not.
“But, unpopular as it may be to say in some quarters of my party, the crisis affects one gender with particular potency,” he said. “Like it or not, American men are still raised to believe that their role is to act as providers and protectors. And when men whose self-worth is tied up in that aspiration realize they’ll never be able to buy a home, they’re bound to feel shame and anger.”
Emanuel argued that, instead of shying away from this issue or prioritizing other ones, his party needs to address this, as it’s the real way to “save our democracy.”
“Democrats talk all the time about democracy being on the ballot. But the solution won’t be found only in registering more voters or making mail-in balloting universal. The problem is that real generation-over-generation prosperity is harder to achieve today,” he wrote.
“This shouldn’t be some mystery: American democracy became unstable at almost exactly the same time the American Dream became unaffordable. And because that’s not a coincidence, we need to tackle the homeownership challenge head-on,” he added.
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Emanuel, who said in June he is considering running for president on the Democratic ticket in 2028, has been making the media rounds in recent months to advise his party on how to bounce back from the 2024 presidential election loss.
During an interview on CNN in July, Emanuel provided some tough love for the party, telling CNN host Dana Bash, “Just to give you a sense of how bad we are – the Democratic Party is less popular than Elon Musk right now. That should be like a wake-up call – how bad.”
He continued, “You want to restore confidence in democracy? Restore confidence in the American dream. The party for our ticket out of where we are, is making the American dream and the middle class our north star.”
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