Emanuel Tells Time: 'Happiest I Have Been In Public Life'

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Rampant gang violence, that led him to be dubbed "the murder mayor."

A bitter teacher's strike.

An unpopular plan to close a historic number of under performing and half-empty schools.

Massive budget problems. (About a billion dollar deficit for the schools alone.)

Despite all that, Mayor Rahm Emanuel tells Time magazine in this week's cover story that "this is the happiest I've been in public life."

Emanuel spent plenty of time in the bare knuckle political brawls of Washington, D.C., working for two presidents and serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"After Mayor Richard Daley's more than decades in office, Emanuel is a big shift for the Windy City and, according to him, he arrived at a crucial time," writes David Von Drehle.

"The decisions we make in the next two to three years will determine the face of Chicago for the next 20 to 30 years," Emanuel told Time.

And those decisions have made him some enemies.

Most notably the firebrand Chicago Teachers' Union President Karen Lewis, who labeled him the "murder mayor" for his move to close dozens of elementary schools.

"Look at the murder rate in this city. He's murdering schools. He's murdering jobs. He's murdering housing. I don't know what else to call him. He's the murder mayor," she said in March.

That followed a bitter teacher's negotiation, settled after a nine-day walkout.

In 2011, she accused the mayor of yelling obscenities at her during a meeting.

Much of this conflict has occurred in the past 12 months.

And despite angering what is typically a strong base for Democrats, there is currently no credible challenger as Emanuel prepares to run for a second term.

"I have always wanted to be mayor," he told Time.

The Time report also includes a classic "Chicago Way" story of how the mayor convinced the city's prestigious universities to partner with Chicago's high schools:

Determined to steer Chicago's leading universities into partnerships with local high schools, he summoned their presidents to his office one by one.

"Each of those college presidents has construction projects they want to complete," he explains. "I just told them if they would help me, I'd have someone walk their plans through the permit process."

They all assented, though he didn't have to say what might happen to those permits should they refuse.