Rahm didn't need his Clinton connections, he would've gotten that job with a Bubba crony without em:

The revolving door between government and business turns constantly in Washington, but seldom has a Washington insider made so much money so quickly.

Seldom has someone been able to amass a fortune to last a lifetime during so brief an interruption in a political career. Seldom has someone done so on the way between positions of such influence, sandwiching it in as he moved from trusted confidant of a president to House freshman already using his prodigious fundraising ability to position himself for a top strategic role for House Democrats.

In doing so, Emanuel provides a portrait of the often murky, below-the-surface intersection of money and power and politics.

Deftly tapping the contacts he made as a senior adviser to former President Bill Clinton, Emanuel went to work for one of Clinton's most active fundraisers after leaving the White House in late 1998. He took on a client base many of whom were his party's most important financial backers--Democratic donors of such clout that they have slept in the Lincoln Bedroom, flown on Air Force One and, in one case, even celebrated a birthday in the White House with Clinton.

Congressional disclosures filed this year show Emanuel earned $16.2 million as an investment banker, largely by brokering high-profile mergers and acquisitions. That is more than twice what was reported when he ran for office last year--before millions of dollars of deferred income poured in.

It's a striking sum even in the richly paid world of corporate deal-making, let alone for someone without an MBA or any prior business experience other than running a small political consultancy.

He did it on pure hard work and diligence. In two years.