Comments on: Crazy Quilt American-Jewish Attitudes Toward Israel: Emanuel Family, Case in Point

By: Voices without Votes » Emanuel Apologizes for Father’s Anti-Arab Remark

Voices without Votes » Emanuel Apologizes for Father’s Anti-Arab Remark — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:54:19 +0000

[...] he noted that his son would, of course, ensure the White House was “pro-Israel” because he certainly was no Arab whose job it would be to clean White House floors: “Today, Rep. Emanuel called Mary Rose Oakar, [...]

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:06:15 +0000

@Donald: He gets such criticism from me. I’ve been quite critical quite often. Though of course overall I’m quite supportive.

By: Donald

Donald — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:33:27 +0000

It was an ABC story–

link

Anyway, that’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. Obama is a politician, maybe better than average, but he obviously has calculated that he gets more support by uncritically echoing what rightwing Israel supporters want him to say. It might help him change if he received as much criticism on the left for saying these kinds of things as he’ll get on the right if he becomes evenhanded.

By: Donald

Donald — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:27:30 +0000

“Obama was more even-handed in this regard than any Democratic presidential candidate in a long time.”

That’s a very low bar. I don’t have the time to look it up right now, but Obama said something sympathetic about Palestinian suffering in Iowa, and when challenged on it, elaborated by blaming the Palestinian leadership. A couple of days ago I found a CNN (or ABC? I forget) story on what Obama said to some Jewish voters in Florida last spring and he pandered so hard in backing away from Rashid Khalidi that he indirectly compared Khalidi to some “anti-black” congresspeople that he’s friendly with, his point being that he’s friends with all sorts, anti-black congresspeople and people like Khalidi. Not exactly one of his stellar moments.

We’ll find out if I’m wrong over the next several years. Hopefully I am.

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:46:42 +0000

@John Dickerson: This is all entirely speculative w. no proof presented & not even a source provided. Anyone can say anything when you write like that. No credible journalist has written anything of this sort. So I’ll wait to see if this gets picked up by anyone before I say it’s credible.

Rupa sent me the same story & I noted that a phrase in Madsen’s report referred to the “CIA’s Houston station chief.” Say what? Sorry, but I don’t buy a story that claims the CIA has a station chief in a U.S. city.

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:43:04 +0000

@Donald:

Everything Obama has said and done since he’s been a senator and during this campaign suggests he is not inclined to be fairminded towards Arabs. I’d like to be wrong…

You are. Obama was more even-handed in this regard than any Democratic presidential candidate in a long time. He wasn’t perfect by any means & I criticized him when he wasn’t. But he was a damn sight better than McCain & yr avg. Democratic presidential candidate.

By: John Dickerson

John Dickerson — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:55:30 +0000

FROM MONDOWEISS-

My friend Rupa Shah sent me this piece from Wayne Madsen’s website (for subscribers only): Madsen says that Obama may face a security issue with Emanuel since “informed U.S. intelligence sources [say] that prospective Barack Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has an active FBI counter-intelligence file maintained on him… Questions about Emanuel’s links to the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, were allegedly so great that President Bill Clinton was forced to dismiss Emanuel from the White House staff in 1998.”

SOURCE- http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2008/11/my-friend-rupa-shah-sent-me-this-piece-from-wayne-madsens-website-for-subscribers-only.html

By: Donald

Donald — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:42:07 +0000

To add to my previous post, so far as I can tell the reason progressives like you and MJ Rosenberg think Obama is going to be fair to the Palestinians is because you know he is intelligent and had an (agnostic) Muslim father and fascinating mixture of cultures in his life story and so he must be in favor of an agreement that is fair to both sides.
But the problem is that Obama has acted like nearly every American politician on this issue. It’s now standard in US political circles to say one favors a two state solution, but to put 90 percent of the blame on Palestinian leaders and 10 percent (if that) on Israelis. Obama has followed that line of thinking and he never openly criticizes brutal Israeli behavior the way he has Arab terrorism. It’s a leap of faith to assume that once he is in office he will drastically change his behavior.

Clinton made considerable efforts to reach a solution, but when the going got tough, he did the politically expedient thing and put all the blame on Arafat. (Not that Arafat didn’t deserve much of it, but certainly not all.) So maybe Obama will make efforts, but at the first sign of trouble he’s likely to follow in Clinton’s footsteps and blame the Palestinians, as he has in his campaign. November 2012 is only four years away.