Speaking at the Brookings Institution, Emanuel suggested that Hillary Clinton's campaign had failed because it paid insufficient concern to voters' economic concerns. He argued that Democrats could use social inclusion as a "wedge" issue to win over suburban supporters.

"What is it about what we did when we won and what we didn't do when we lost?" he asked, before answering his own question by adding, "I'm all for a socially inclusive message but not at the exclusion of an economically robust message."

Noting that in Asian-American U.S. Sen.-elect Tammy Duckworth and her replacement in the house, Indian-American U.S. Rep.-elect Raja Krishnamoorthi, suburban voters had elected two Democratic minority candidates, he said that by advocating "social policies of inclusion" Democrats had a "huge opportunity to drive a wedge between suburban and rural" voters.

"Sorry for talking about wedge politics that way," he added, in an aside.