http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081117/nichols2
Rahm Emanuel: Face of Change?
By John Nichols
The Nation: November 5, 2008
ABC News is reporting that President-elect Barack Obama has offered Illinois
Congressman Rahm Emanuel, a former Clinton White House aide, the key
position of the White House chief of staff in the new Democratic
administration that is beginning to take shape.
A formal announcement by Obama of his chief-of-staff pick is expected this
week. The name of former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle, an early and
ardent Obama backer, has long been high of the list of prospects. So, too,
has that of Emanuel, although his divided loyalties--he was a close friend
of Bill and Hillary Clinton and a congressman from Obama's hometown of
Chicago--sidelined him during the Democratic primary campaign season.
Emanuel has wrestled with the question of whether to remain in the House,
where he would eventually like to serve as Speaker, or to take a
definitional position in the Obama White House.
If Obama really wants him, however, it will be hard for the congressman to
say "no."
But should Obama really want him?
Emanuel's strengths have been well-documented: He knows his way around
Washington, on the executive and legislative ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. He
is a savvy political player, with a reputation for getting things done and
for defending his boss against all comers.
Unfortunately, Emanuel is a militant advocate for free-trade policies; he
was a point man in the White House in the fight to pass the North American
Free Trade Agreement and similar deals that have been passionately opposed
by the very labor, environmental and farm groups that were essential players
in electing Obama. When he ran for Congress in 2002, major unions supported
his Democratic primary opponent, former Illinois State Representative Nancy
Kaszak.
Picking Emanuel would reassure Wall Street, but it won't give much comfort
to Main Street.
It will also cause some head-scratching among Democrats who thought they
were making a break not just with the Bush administration but with the
compromises of the Clinton era.
Emanuel, a fearsome fund raiser, is closely aligned with the
corporate-sponsored Democratic Leadership Council, the most "insider" of
Washington-insider groups.
And, while Obama established his credentials with progressive Democrats by
opposing the 2002 congressional resolution authorizing President Bush to go
to war with Iraq, Emanuel supported it.
- - -
From: Karen Pomer
Obama picks pro-Israel hardliner for top post
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 5 November 2008
During the United States election campaign, racists and pro-Israel
hardliners tried to make an issue out of President-elect Barack Obama's
middle name, Hussein. Such people might take comfort in another middle name,
that of Obama's pick for White House Chief of Staff: Rahm Israel Emanuel.
Emanuel is Obama's first high-level appointment and it's one likely to
disappointment those who hoped the president-elect would break with the
George W. Bush Administration's pro-Israel policies. White House Chief of
Staff is often considered the most powerful office in the executive branch,
next to the president. Obama has offered Emanuel the position according to
Democratic party sources cited by media including Reuters and The New York
Times. While Emanuel is expected to accept the post, that had not been
confirmed by Wednesday evening the day after the election.
Rahm Emanuel was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1959, the son of Benjamin
Emanuel, a pediatrician who helped smuggle weapons to the Irgun, the Zionist
militia of former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, in the 1940s. The
Irgun carried out numerous terrorist attacks on Palestinian civilians
including the bombing of Jerusalem's King David Hotel in 1946.
Emanuel continued his father's tradition of active support for Israel;
during the 1991 Gulf War he volunteered to help maintain Israeli army
vehicles near the Lebanon border when southern Lebanon was still occupied by
Israeli forces.
As White House political director in the first Clinton administration,
Emanuel orchestrated the famous 1993 signing ceremony of the "Declaration of
Principles" between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli prime
minister Yitzhak Rabin. Emanuel was elected to Congress representing a north
Chicago district in 2002 and he is credited with a key role in delivering a
Democratic majority in the 2006 mid-term elections. He has been a prominent
supporter of neoliberal economic policies on free trade and welfare reform.
One of the most influential politicians and fundraisers in his party,
Emanuel accompanied Obama to a meeting of AIPAC's executive board just after
the Illinois senator had addressed the pro-Israel lobby's conference last
June.
In Congress, Emanuel has been a consistent and vocal pro-Israel hardliner,
sometimes more so than President Bush. In June 2003, for example, he signed
a letter criticizing Bush for being insufficiently supportive of Israel. "We
were deeply dismayed to hear your criticism of Israel for fighting acts of
terror," Emanuel, along with 33 other Democrats wrote to Bush. The letter
said that Israel's policy of assassinating Palestinian political leaders
"was clearly justified as an application of Israel's right to self-defense"
("Pelosi supports Israel's attacks on Hamas group," San Francisco Chronicle,
14 June 2003).
In July 2006, Emanuel was one of several members who called for the
cancellation of a speech to Congress by visiting Iraqi prime minister Nouri
al-Maliki because al-Maliki had criticized Israel's bombing of Lebanon.
Emanuel called the Lebanese and Palestinian governments "totalitarian
entities with militias and terrorists acting as democracies" in a 19 July
2006 speech supporting a House resolution backing Israel's bombing of both
countries that caused thousands of civilian victims.
Emanuel has sometimes posed as a defender of Palestinian lives, though never
from the constant Israeli violence that is responsible for the vast majority
of deaths and injuries. On 14 June 2007 he wrote to US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice "on behalf of students in the Gaza Strip whose future is
threatened by the ongoing fighting there" which he blamed on "the violence
and militancy of their elders." In fact, the fighting between members of
Hamas and Fatah, which claimed dozens of lives, was the result of a failed
scheme by US-backed militias to violently overthrow the elected Hamas-led
national unity government. Emanuel's letter urged Rice "to work with allies
in the region, such as Egypt and Jordan, to either find a secure location in
Gaza for these students, or to transport them to a neighboring country where
they can study and take their exams in peace." Palestinians often view such
proposals as a pretext to permanently "transfer" them from their country, as
many Israeli leaders have threatened. Emanuel has never said anything in
support of millions of Palestinian children whose education has been
disrupted by Israeli occupation, closures and blockades.
Emanuel has also used his position to explicitly push Israel's interests in
normalizing relations with Arab states and isolating Hamas. In 2006 he
initiated a letter to President Bush opposing United Arab Emirates
(UAE)-based Dubai Ports World's attempt to buy the management business of
six US seaports. The letter, signed by dozens of other lawmakers, stated
that "The UAE has pledged to provide financial support to the Hamas-led
government of the Palestinian Authority and openly participates in the Arab
League boycott against Israel." It argued that allowing the deal to go
through "not only could place the safety and security of US ports at risk,
but enhance the ability of the UAE to bolster the Hamas regime and its
efforts to promote terrorism and violence against Israel" ("Dems Tie Israel,
Ports," Forward, 10 March 2006).
Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council,
told Fox News that picking Emanuel is "just another indication that despite
the attempts to imply that Obama would somehow appoint the wrong person or
listen to the wrong people when it comes to the US-Israel relationship ...
that was never true."
Over the course of the campaign, Obama publicly distanced himself from
friends and advisers suspected or accused of having "pro-Palestinian"
sympathies. There are no early indications of a more balanced course.
Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah is author of One
Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli- Palestinian Impasse
(Metropolitan Books, 2006).
***
From: Peter Dreier
Reflections on the Presidential Election: Prospects for Peace and Justice
Where: Forum at All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid, Pasadena
When: Thursday, November 6, 7:30-9 pm
Who:
Opening Comments by
*Former state Senator Tom Hayden
*Occidental College Professor Peter Dreier
Followed by Reflections by
Rabbi Leonard Beerman
Dr. Maher Hathout
Rev. George Regas
Then an open discussion with the audience
Sponsored by: Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative (AFPI)
Rev. George Regas, Chair
Please forward this information to anyone you think might be interested
For more information, contact: Franci Levine-Grater: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
***
From: C Kaffen
WHO: Michael Schwartz, Leila Al-Arian
WHAT: Resisting Empire at Home and Abroad
Part of a national anti-war speaking tour (www.resistingempire.org)
WHEN: Saturday, November 8, 2008 7:00PM-9:00PM
WHERE: United Teachers Los Angeles Building (UTLA)**
3303 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90010 (at Berendo)
( Two blocks west of the Wilshire/Vermont Red Line Stop)
$5.00
also part of the Southern California Socialist Conference
Building a Revolutionary Alternative to War, Crisis, and Racism
Speakers will include Local Activists and authors:
Laila Al-Arian
Laila Al-Arian is a freelance journalist and co-author, with Chris Hedges,
of Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians (Nation Books,
2008). She has written for The Nation, USA Today, United Press
International, The Huffington Post, and The Washington Report on Middle East
Affairs. Laila has also tirelessly fought for the freedom of her father, Dr.
Sami Al-Arian (www.freesamialarian.com), a victim of Bush's U.S.A. Patriot
Act and so called "War on Terror."
"Based on hundreds of hours of interviews with veterans of the Iraq war and
occupation, [Collateral Damage] lays out graphically indeed and in their own
words the American system of patrols, convoys, home raids, detentions, and
military checkpoints that became a living nightmare for civilians in
Iraq." - TomDispatch.com
Michael Schwartz
Michael Schwartz is a Professor of Sociology at Stony Brook University and
author of War Without End: The Iraq War in Context, published by Haymarket
Books. Michael is also a regular contributor to several progressive online
and print publications, including Against the Current, Z Magazine, Asia
Times, www.TomDispatch.com, and www.MotherJones.com.
"Americans have all along needed a sociologist, not a general, to help them
understand Iraq... We have the incredible good fortune that the
perspicacious Michael Schwartz boldly stepped forward to cast floods of
illumination on the Iraq War and its tragic social costs." - Juan Cole
Call (213) 309-2713 or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] for more information.
** UTLA is not a sponsor of this event. Use of UTLA facility does not imply
union endorsement of views presented.
National Co-Sponsors: Alternet, Iraq Veterans Against the War and Nation
Books
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