Rahm Emanuel...Apologizes?

With all of the talk about Emanuel as something of a pit bull, you wouldn't imagine that he would already be apologizing to the Arab-American community:

Upon hearing of his son's new gig, the father of incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was quoted in the Israeli newspaper Ma'Ariv, saying, “Obviously, he’ll influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn’t he? What is he, an Arab? He’s not going to be mopping floors at the White House.”

This has prompted a letter from American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee heads Kareem Shora and former Rep. Mary Rose Oakar, D-Ohio, to the junior Mr. Emanuel, congratulating him and President-elect Obama, saying they are "deeply disappointed by comments made by your father, Mr. Benjamin Emanuel."

The ADC, they write, "views this characterization of an Arab as an unacceptable smear. One can readily imagine the justifiable outcry if someone made a similar remark about African-Americans, Jews, or Hispanics, concerning cleaning the floors of the White House. Do the normal standards of decency and civility not apply when talking about Arabs? ADC asks you to disavow and repudiate these remarks publicly. We sincerely hope you will distance yourself from any demeaning characterization of any ethnic, religious, or racial group."

With all due respect, what is the big deal? Look again at what Emanuel's father said:

Obviously, he’ll influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn’t he? What is he, an Arab? He’s not going to be mopping floors at the White House.

Isn't his father just giving 2 unrelated cases for why his son is going to to be a pro-Israel influence?

o He is going to be a pro-Israel influence, because after all--Rahm Emanuel is Jewish, not an Arab.

o He is going to be a pro-Israel influence, because after all--Rahm Emanuel is going to be the White House Chief of Staff, not mopping floors.

I suppose you could argue that I am reading too much into this, but I don't think so. On the contrary, I think these representatives of the Arab-American community are taking advantage of the situation and jumping in to score points.

They have succeeded.

A spokeswoman for Emanuel writes: “Today, Rep. Emanuel called Mary Rose Oakar, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and apologized on behalf of his family and agreed to meet with representatives of the Arab-American community at an appropriate time in the future." [emphasis added]

I would like to think that "at an appropriate time in the future" is Rahm Emanuel's way of saying "when pigs fly."

Now that is an example of reading to much into a statement.

Still, is this indicative of how open the Obama administration is going to be to Arab-American complaints about slights--both imagined and real?

And what about complaints from Arab governments?

Final question: will "Rahmbo" always be such a pussycat?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

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