Emanuel would be ‘excellent’ Chicago mayor, Obama says

President Obama said Friday that Rahm Emanuel would be an excellent Chicago mayor, offering implicit support for his now-former chief of staff’s still unannounced mayoral campaign.

“I think he would make an excellent mayor, and he would bring an incredible energy to the job,” Obama said in an interview in the Oval Office after a White House event announcing Emanuel’s departure.

White House sources say the president hasn’t made up his mind whether he will headline a fundraiser for Emanuel or otherwise get involved in the race. But Friday’s events demonstrated that the White House would cast a long shadow over the mayoral race 700 miles away.

The White House set aside Friday as a giant pep rally for Emanuel, and the president displayed just how loud his voice can be even if he doesn’t openly inject himself into the race.

Emanuel never said he was leaving to run for Chicago mayor, and the president acknowledged, with a wink and nod, only that his chief of staff was leaving “to explore other opportunities.” Nonetheless, the event carried overtones of a campaign kickoff.

“This is a bittersweet day here at the White House,” Obama told Emanuel’s colleagues and family members gathered for the official announcement. “On the one hand, we are all very excited for Rahm as he takes on a new challenge for which he is extraordinarily well qualified. But we’re also losing an incomparable leader of our staff and one who we are going to miss very much.”

The event took place in the gilded East Room, a venue generally set aside for visiting heads of state and other important guests. The president’s remarks were followed by an emotional speech from Emanuel.

Emanuel told the story of his father and grandfather, who he said came to the U.S. for opportunity and a better life for their children. His mother marched with Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement because, Emanuel said, she believed that “none of us is truly free until all of us are.”

christi.parsons@latimes.com