The Common Good Launches American Renewal Project with Rahm Emanuel, Calling for a New Democratic Vision Ahead of 2028

Former Chicago Mayor, Obama Chief of Staff, and U.S. Ambassador to Japan delivers pointed policy agenda on housing, education, immigration, and government corruption at sold-out New York forum

NEW YORK, June 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Common Good hosted the second installment of its American Renewal Project speaker series on Thursday, welcoming former Chicago Mayor, White House Chief of Staff, and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of the Democratic Party and the country. The event, moderated by political commentator and columnist S.E. Cupp, drew such a crowd that the organization moved to a larger venue after audience registration doubled in the 48 hours leading up to the event.

The American Renewal Project, launched by The Common Good under the leadership of Patricia Duff, aims to convene leading voices around constructive, workable ideas for America's future. The series debuted two weeks prior with Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and an all-star panel on political leadership and governance. Thursday's forum marked a significant expansion of the project's reach and ambition.

Rahm Emanuel: "The American Dream Has Become Unaffordable — and That's Why Democracy Is Unstable"

Emanuel arrived with a diagnosis and a prescription. His central argument: four seismic events over the past 25 years — the Iraq War built on false intelligence, the 2008 financial crisis, the offshoring of American manufacturing, and COVID-19 — all share a common thread. "The one common through theme in all four of the most disruptive events in 25 years is the elite did very well, and the rest of the public thinks they're being left behind," he said. "The day the American dream became unaffordable is exactly when democracy became unstable."

On Housing: Emanuel proposed a GI Bill-style program for national service: two years of service — through AmeriCorps or similar programs — would earn participants a $25,000 down payment on a home. To fund it, he called for eliminating the mortgage interest deduction on second homes. "You have 30-year-olds who can't afford their first home while people like me are getting a mortgage deduction on a vacation property in Montana," he said. "That system was built so people could start on the path of the American dream — it's time to make it do that again."

On Higher Education: Emanuel laid out a sweeping reform package: allow universities to offer three-year bachelor's degrees (noting Oxford and Cambridge have done so for centuries), make tuition free for families earning under $200,000, and cap tuition increases at CPI for higher earners. He also proposed allowing universities to retain savings from reduced federal compliance costs in exchange for adopting these reforms. "College is supposed to be your ticket to the future," he said. "It's become not a benefit but a burden."

On K-12 and Workforce Development: Drawing on his record as Chicago Mayor — where he raised graduation rates from 56% to 84% and earned recognition from Stanford as the top large urban school system in the country — Emanuel called for a national shift from the high school diploma as an endpoint to a "learn, plan, succeed" model requiring every student to graduate with a clear post-secondary plan, whether college, trade school, or certification. He noted the country currently faces a shortage of 500,000 electricians for critical infrastructure buildout alone. "Every one of those jobs is six figures with benefits, you can buy a home, and AI cannot touch them," he said.

On Government Corruption: Emanuel offered three structural reforms: mandatory blind trusts for any elected or appointed federal official with more than $1 million in assets; a mandatory retirement age of 75 for all federal officeholders and judges, including Supreme Court justices; and a total ban on participation in prediction markets for federal officials and their families, with criminal penalties for violations. "The whole place needs a power wash — not just one branch," he said, adding that a 75-year retirement rule would achieve Supreme Court term limits without the political impossibility of expanding the court.

On Immigration: Emanuel endorsed a bipartisan bill currently backed by 23 Democratic and 23 Republican members of Congress, calling it imperfect but meaningful progress. "The first eight letters of progressive is progress, not perfection," he said, framing the bill as the first real legislative movement since the Simpson-Mazzoli Act of 1986.

On AI Regulation: Emanuel called for a new regulatory body structured like a task force rather than a traditional agency — one capable of making decisions at the speed of technological change. "Our government is set up to regulate an industrial economy. This is not an industrial technology," he said. He argued the country cannot allow its AI policy to be determined either by the whims of a single administration or the ethical judgment of individual tech executives.

On the Democratic Party: "We've Used Trump as a Crutch"

Emanuel was trenchant in his diagnosis of his own party. Citing three separate surveys totaling more than 5,000 Democratic primary voters, he argued that the loudest voices on the left do not represent the median Democratic voter: "Fifty percent of self-described Democrats identify as moderate. Another 25% call themselves pragmatic liberals. The noise on the left is not where the rank and file is — nobody's talking to those voters because they're busy talking to each other."

He was equally direct about 2024: "From the moment she got the baton through the debate, through the convention, Kamala Harris ran an A campaign. Then somewhere after the debate and after The View, she closed out on Joe Biden's message — and you don't tell voters what they don't believe." He called the late pivot to democracy as the closing argument a strategic error, noting that any voter for whom democracy was the top issue was already in the tent.

Looking ahead to 2028, Emanuel argued the party must present a forward-looking agenda, not simply an anti-Trump posture. "We as a party have to prove we can fight for America, not just fight Donald Trump. 2028 will be the first election in basically two decades where the future is truly on the ballot."

About The Common Good and the American Renewal Project

The Common Good strives to inspire broad participation in our democracy through the free exchange of ideas and civil dialogue and seeks to find ways to bridge the growing divisions that threaten our nation and our democracy. https://www.thecommongoodus.org

"We as a party have to prove we can fight for America, not just fight Donald Trump." — Rahm Emanuel, The Common Good American Renewal Project, May 28, 2026

Contact: Patricia Duff | [email protected] | +1 (917) 331-0123

SOURCE The Common Good