Rahm Emanuel and Arab Perceptions
On November 5th, my office sent an email to tens of thousands of our members and contacts congratulating President-elect Barack Obama. In our message, we noted the historic transformation his victory represented and commended the thousands of Arab Americans who participated in this winning campaign.
The initial and near universal response was heartwarming, with many sharing moving anecdotes of their campaign experiences, their reactions to the victory, and their hopes for change.
One day and one announcement later, the tide turned.
With the naming of Congressman Rahm Emanuel as Obama's White House Chief of Staff, for some, not all, the euphoria turned to despair. The emails and calls to my office were both troubled and troubling -- because much of the reaction was based on misinformation and because of what the entire episode revealed about the larger political dynamics involved.
First, the facts.
Rahm Emanuel is a brilliant strategist and a practitioner of hard-ball politics who, in campaigns, his time in the Clinton White House and more recently in Congress, has demonstrated that he knows how to get a job done. Because there will be critical legislation the President-elect will need to move through Congress, from an economic recovery package and health care reform to a comprehensive approach to alternative energy, Obama has tapped Emanuel for his proven political skills. It is that simple.
This, of course, was neither the content nor the concerns raised by the emails I received. Some charged that Emanuel was an Israeli citizen or a dual U.S.-Israeli national (he is neither, he was born in Chicago in 1959); or, they alleged that he served in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), losing his finger confronting a Syrian tank during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon (he did not serve in the IDF, and lost his finger in a freak accident while working as a teenager in an Arby's restaurant). A few accused Emanuel of skipping U.S. military service to join the IDF in 1991 (also not true -- in the midst of the 1991 Gulf War, while U.S. forces were manning Patriot missile batteries in Israel and the Arab Gulf, Emanuel volunteered for a few weeks, as a civilian, doing maintenance on Israeli vehicles). The most recent story alleges that Rahm Emanuel was fired from the White House in 1998 after being implicated by the FBI, together with Monica Lewinsky, in a Mossad plot to spy on then-President Clinton (a total fabrication, compliments of a shady character who claims to have been a U.S. intelligence official and is a purveyor of many bizarre tales).
That stories such as these have been circulating, and have taken hold, is as reprehensible as the "Barack Obama is a secret Muslim/Manchurian candidate" tale, or the anti-Arab anti-Muslim canards to which I and many of my colleagues have been subjected over the years.
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.
Beyond these facts, however, there are two concerns that must be addressed.
It is deeply troubling how quickly, for some, the excitement of Barack Obama's victory was eclipsed by cynicism and suspicion, and how receptive some were to wild tales. This could only occur, on one level, because the victory itself was not understood. If it had been, the excitement would have been tempered by an appreciation of political realities.
Obama's victory, no doubt, demonstrated that change is possible -- but incremental change. Pressures remain, from the right and the left and interest groups of all sorts continue to have influence, limiting political options. The economy is in a free-fall and, after eight years of Bush neglect and recklessness, dangers abound in the world. An Obama victory doesn't alter those realities, either. And so our excitement was justified, but our euphoria should never have taken us so high as to lose our grounding and understanding of the limits of what is possible.
My concern is that, for some, the need for change became so great as make them susceptible to wild swings -- from unrealistic expectations to unwarranted despair and, therefore, to become prone to believe the worst.
But the fault here should be shared. 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. (Aside from the flap over the comments made by Rahm's father, for which Rahm, himself, has now profoundly apologized.) As a result, the situation festered.
The campaign is now over, and the President-elect is playing on a world stage with more than one audience at stake. And in the Middle East, especially, sensitivities are as great and (perceived) sleights are felt as acutely as they are among any people in the world. With feelings having been rubbed raw by decades of U.S. policy miscues, and with U.S. favorability ratings at all-time lows, and extremists preying off resentment and fear - perceptions matter.
If we are to succeed in making changes in U.S.-Arab relations -- and I believe that an Obama administration can -- greater attentiveness and sensitivity is in order.
Bottom line -- there are lessons to learn and work to be done. Arabs and Arab Americans need to ground their expectations in political realities and be wary of slanderous attacks smacking of anti-Semitism, and U.S. political leadership must learn to be as attentive to Arab sensitivities as they are to the concerns of others.
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Read my ,lips everyone..
well one thing for sure rahm will not be traveling to muslim countries ,if obama decides to visit,if he holds an isreali passport.
the problem though all this campaign,again and again arab's and especially the muslim comunity has been insukted so much,till it became unbearable.
and all throughout this campaign,the runners to rpesidency where always reasuring isreal and the jewish community,as if the whole united states is jewish.
That's exactly right. All Presidential candidates in the US have to at least pretend to be pro-Israel Zionists or they run the risk of losing a huge voting block. But what does it say to the rest of the world about our impartiality? It says, "Screw you, we're pro-Israel
This response is even stronger because you made it!! Obama is the last best chance for a just peace in the Middle East if REAL peace partners are found.
Thanks so much for speaking out and disseminating truths. The hate was gettting out of hand and to be honest, quite depressing. Being of Israeli or Jewish heritage does not make someone a bad person. Supporting Israel does not make someone dangerous. There are many who support Israel and peace. There are many who support Israel and a two-state solutions. And there are many who support Israel yet still want Palestine human rights. The cyber-gene
See Sam Sedaei's Profile
Good article James. Except one thing: it's called the "Persian Gulf," not the Arab Gulf.
It was interesting to read the wikipedia information on the history of the naming of the Gulf by the Greeks as the Persian Gulf, and the efforts by some in Arab countries since the 1960's to refer to it instead as the "Arabian Gulf." Apparently, though both have been used, "Persian Gulf" is the term that has been internationally recognized.
Wow, this comment just led me to research and discover the deep and bitter controversy surrounding the name. Persians call it the Persian Gulf. Arabs call it the Arabian Gulf. Why not just call it saltwater and move on from this silliness? I mean, at first I was a little peeved over the Mexicans taking the name of our gulf, but I got over it.
The Mexicans took over OUR gulf!?!?!!?!!?! Quick, let's attack Jamaica before CHENEY/bush leave office!!!!!
Who cares, Its all the same thing!!!
The Arab Gulf and Persian Gulf are NOT the same thing.
Arabs are one people/region and Persians an entirely different people/region.
Here's a prediction from someone I listen to. Hope proliferates.
Carter: Obama will waste no time pursuing Middle East peace
http://www
I am of Lebanese extraction and have been following the Middle East for 50 years.Obam
I agree..."B
Be serious.
"Jaw jaw is better than war war" Winston Churchill
Great...Br
If there's any single person in the world who can force Israel to stay at the table and negotiate in good faith, it is the President of the United States. If only, for no better reason, that he holds the purse strings on the $3 billion a year in military aid and the UN veto, both of which have been used to this point to endorse the militant policies of the Israeli government. Whether Obama will continue this trend and support Israel, tacitly if not openly, or if he will change course and seek a genuine peace, only time will tell. I'm not sure what to think of Rahm Emanuel at this point, but he did have the decency to apologize publicly for his father's racist statement when he could have easily ignored it and let it slide out of public attention.
ah yes, war is always the answer... man you think outside the box don't you? i don't care how long you've been "following" the entire middle east, to reduce the conflict to football terminology and to have the naivete to say that war decides all is truly depressing, and insulting to both Israeli and Palestinian leaders
if a "decisive winner" to an all-out war was the solution, Israel would have wiped them out long ago... but i would think they know that is NOT going to solve anything in the long-term, because it will literally breed hate towards them for decades upon decades
So, you say "he will not" be able to broker peace. I remember just a few months ago everyone was saying (probably you too?) that "he would not" ever be president.
Thank you for clearing that up, I was confused by some of the articles I was reading and unsure as to what was truth or lie. Scary how rumours invented in somebody's paranoid head can so easily take on a life of their own and become parroted as fact.
It also damages the truth when genuine stories about people come out which really are disturbing, nobody knows what to believe, they just align themselves with conspiracy theories which support their ideology.
Nobody should be judged on their ethnicity or backround, the nonsense that is being spewed about this man are attacks targeted entirely on that basis.
"He is a strong supporter of Israel" .That is the problem . Amazing how people live in La La land.
How is this any different from, say, an Irish-American being named Ambassador to the United Kingdom?
if you don't know or feign ignorance then you are the problem.
I am so relieved! Rahm just has a PR problem.
Arabs and Muslims have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Awesome! thank you Mr. Zogby, I will sleep like a baby tonight.
your sarcasm is unamusing.
it still remains that when his country was in peril he volunteered to help in israel(in the motorpool?????? with his skills and education?????) and not for the usa. let's see what he does but that doubt will remain until then.
This country was not in peril in 1991. We moved a bunch of forces over to Saudi Arabia, where they wanted us to protect them from Saddam. Then we kicked Saddam out of Kuwait and refused to chase him down in Baghdad.
Israel, if you remember, was not part of the coalition that attacked Iraq. They didn't fire a shot in that conflict. Yet, Iraq shot 37 SCUDS missiles at Israel.
Helping Israel when Israel was choosing to not make the war wider and crazier did help the USA at that time.
Were you serious when said that in 1991 "his country was in peril"?
The rumors were definitely getting out of control. I don't quite know why. Rahm is great pick for CoS. I'm so glad he accepted the job.
Speaking of "perceptio
Will Rahm hold Svengali-like influence over Obama, or will Obama use Emanuel like the precision surgical TOOL he is?
Obama's NOT Bush and Rahm's NOT Cheney...
It'll be a positive thing for both of 'em AND the Middle East as well.
Count on it!
-T
My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) regarding Rahm Emanuel) is that:
1. He indeed did have dual US-Israeli citizenship, but renounced his Israeli citizenship at age 18; and,
2. His father was a member of Irgun, the militant (some would say terrorist) organization that launched attacks against the British overseers of Palestine and the Arab gangs who terrorized Jews in Palestine in the years leading up to the UN mandate that established the state of Israel.
If he has the trust and respect of Arabs - that is, he is seen by Arabs as an honest man and not a pedal-to-the-medal, support-Is
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