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Arab-Americans wary of Rahm Emanuel

Email|Link|Comments (11) Posted by Michael Paulson November 17, 2008 04:28 PM

Rahm%20Emanuel.jpg

James J. Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute, sends along an interesting column he has written exploring the wary reaction among Arab Americans to the selection of Rahm Emanuel (right) as the next White House chief of staff. Zogby shoots down many of the wilder rumors about Emanuel, but also criticizes President-elect Obama for not doing more to assauge the Arab-American community's concerns. An excerpt:

"Putting aside the fiction or, more accurately, the slanderous myths, the truth is that Emanuel is an effective leader in Congress. He is a strong supporter of Israel. But then, how many members of Congress are not? Emanuel is Jewish and his father is an Israeli. Arab Americans should be especially sensitive to attacks on anyone based on religion or ethnicity. He has worked closely with and is liked by the Arab American Members of Congress from both parties, and he was the architect of the 1993 White House lawn signing ceremony for the Oslo Accords that brought Arab Americans and American Jews together. When, in 1994, Rahm accepted my invitation to a luncheon with Arab American community leaders, those who met him were impressed by his openness and honesty."

And one more:

"I am concerned by the slowness of the Obama camp to respond more quickly or effectively to address the situation. Modern political operations have learned the need to confront false stories, to manage perception, and to anticipate problems—and, here, the Obama team had been especially masterful. During the campaign, for example, they repeatedly demonstrated how tuned-in they were to public perception – and in particular to matters that might have created discomfort in the Jewish community. They knew that these stories needed to be shot down quickly. (American Muslims understood much of this, despite feeling slighted, at times.) But in this most recent instance, the Obama camp displayed both inattentiveness and tone-deafness to Arab misperceptions about who Rahm Emanuel is, and what role he will play."

(Photo by Charles Dharapak/AP)

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11 comments so far...

Have faith that our president elect Obama will be objective. And he is not going
to pick a Jew team so they going to aginst the Arab. Or he is going pick a team
just white going aginst the black. He is a Christian, there is a reason God pick
him to lead the country. Look we have a president is half black and half white, who
know someday we will finally have a president just black. Peter, if you are reading
I hope you will agree with me someday, there won't be a white president, or
half black and half white president, there will be just a black president, I know
you think JJ against white. Please try to think with me.

Posted by stephanie November 17, 08 07:26 PM

Arab-Americans are worried? Good.

Posted by Heather Czerniak November 17, 08 07:44 PM

Yeah Heather, cause Arab Americans are evil... Or maybe it's just racists like you who are evil.

Posted by Brendan November 17, 08 09:37 PM

Arab Americans don't like it? Isn't arab-American an oxymoron?....no, I'm mistaken....it's just a moron!!!

We won't forget 911 so if you don't like it you so-called "arab Americans", go back to the desert.

Posted by William November 17, 08 11:56 PM

I hardly think Czerniak is a Native American name---what kind of person makes comments like hers?
It is disappointing, particularly after this election, to witness this type of ignorance and hatred.
" .....with liberty and justice for all."

Posted by skeptic2008 November 18, 08 02:36 AM

Brendan - please grow up. Israel is the size of Rhode Island surrounded by a bunch of companies that:

1. Want it gone
2. Do no allow freedom of press
3. Do not give women some basic rights

Israel has the right to exist and it is not racist to think so.

Posted by Zionist November 18, 08 07:12 AM

You been dumped by an Arab Czerniak ?.

Posted by Gentile November 18, 08 08:05 AM

i think obama can bridge the gap between democrats and republicans, but i don't think he's up to the challenge of bridging the gap between smart people and morons. look at these racist comments, i don't think i even want the gap to be bridged. let these morons have the middle of the country and we'll take the coasts, they can have corn and we can have universities, they can have crumbling mains streets and we can have shining cities, they can have their bibles and we can have our science books.

Posted by cbius November 18, 08 08:21 AM

Maybe I'm wrong, but I strongly feel that it is anit-American for anyone to place any other country/race/anything before the word American. It seems to be a very divisive thing to do and extremely disrepectful to our country and the people who call themselves Americans.

Why should Americans respect or trust those who make it a point to differentiate themselves in this manner? Seriously, what is the point?

Posted by America First November 18, 08 08:26 AM

Zionist, why are you automatically assuming that Brendan thinks Israel shouldn't exist? I see nothing in his comment about that. WHile you're at it how come you're not critisizing skeptic2008. You didn't read a hatred of Israel in that comment to? Funny that.
What's being called racist is the ignorant comments made by Heather and William; and rightly so because they're lumping all Arab Americans together. But we won't critisize that because critisizing arab americans doesn't make them racist right?

Posted by Francis November 18, 08 08:33 AM

Ironically, I'm happy that Obama has chosen Emmanuel. As a Conservative, i disdain Emmannuel, for his effectiveness on the liberal side. However, on this issue, i'm glad that the prez-elect has choses somone who, while being fair handed and all for the US policies of Obama, will not allow the jihadists to wipe Israel into the Mediterranean, as they most definitely want to do.

Posted by gaudete November 18, 08 03:37 PM

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Michael Paulson covers religion for The Boston Globe. He shared in the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, won the Mike Berger, Templeton and Supple awards in 2008, and is a four-time winner of the Wilbur Award.
E-mail mpaulson@globe.com.

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Photo, by Yoon S. Byun of the Globe staff, shows Harriet Severino, 45, practicing Zen meditation on May 19, 2009 at a weekly gathering called Ralph Waldo Emerson Zen Sangha at the First Church in Boston (Unitarian Universalist).