Ezra Klein makes a decent case:
Emanuel -- and more to the point, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi -- did a fairly masterful job at it. In the Senate, Democrats got all 60 of their members to sign onto the same large, controversial bill. That's a legislative achievement unheralded in modern times. Bill Clinton didn't manage it on any bills of this size and scope, and neither did George W. Bush.
Then the game changed, and unexpectedly. Ted Kennedy's death wasn't unpredictable, but the loss of his seat was certainly a surprise. It wasn't, however, a surprise that's easy to track back to Emanuel.
If the administration has failed at anything, it's been holding public support for its bills. But that's not really Emanuel's job.
Points taken. But I still can't help but to think that Rahm had a lot to with the fact that healthcare reform hasn't passed yet, and that it's likely that were it up to him, healthcare would be entirely dropped right now. I can't get beyond that. It infuriates me.