Finding The Bright Side Of Biden Dropping 'The Rahm' On Japan

President Joe Biden knows plenty of reasons that certain people, like me, believe Rahm Emanuel is bad for America.

The former congressman and White House chief of staff has a long reputation for being a foul-mouthed bully who authors and pushes horrible political policy — the "three strikes" crime bill that led to the mass incarceration of African Americans, for instance.

As Chicago's mayor, Emanuel closed the most public schools at one time in American history. He also shut down mental health clinics, many in poor minority neighborhoods plagued by shootings.

And while running for re-election, Emanuel had his top lawyer make sure nobody saw video of a police officer's murder black teenager Laquan McDonald until after votes were counted.

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Still, Biden rewarded his political pal by naming Emanuel the next U.S. ambassador to Japan.

The backlash was swift, deserved and expected. A national protest from RootsAction.org aimed at blocking Emanuel's U.S. Senate confirmation pretty much "organized itself" for obvious reasons.

“Top diplomatic posts should only go to individuals with ethics, integrity and diplomatic skills,” RootsAction.com founder Norman Solomon wrote this week. “Emanuel possesses none of those qualifications.”

National political pundits said Biden betrayed Black voters by rewarding Emanuel with a high-profile diplomatic post.

So far, the Biden administration has shrugged.

Apparently, the White House is confident that Emanuel can win enough Senate confirmation votes from a handful of Republican senators if progressive Democrats don't tow the party line.

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As disappointing as that would be, I've found peace with the potential political reality of Biden's bad decision to drop "The Rahm" on Japan after a recent chat with former U.S. ambassador and Penn State University professor Dennis Jett.

Despite the former Chicago mayor's many shortcomings, scandals and negative personality traits, Emanuel's deployment to Japan probably won't hurt America's relationship with a country that considers the U.S. its best friend.

"Rahm has no diplomatic experience, and he's not particularly diplomatic. I met him once in Gainesville and basically thought he was a schmuck," Jett said.

"But given the lack of any particular really difficult issues between us with that country, Rahm would really have to go out of his way to screw things up."

But more than that, the author of "American Ambassadors: A Guide for Aspiring Diplomats and Foreign Service Officers" explained that the best U.S. ambassadors should spend most of their service living in the country to which their assigned.

"It's not like Rahm has a political future. He doesn't have business interests. … And I think he's serious enough that he'll want to succeed sufficiently," Jett said. "My recommendation is he should spend 98 percent of his time in Japan. In that sense, at least, the people of Chicago should be relieved."

Hey! Ho! If Rahm Emanuel has got to go — 6,309 miles away sounds good to me.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docuseries on CNN and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary "16 Shots."