Not wasting any time, President-elect Obama made his first staff pick with Illinois congressman and former Clinton (Bill) advisor Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel has earned a reputation as a hyper-partisan attack dog, which seems to us appropriate at first glance if Obama is looking for a Democratic Karl Rove. <\/p>\n
But other aspects of his political background are giving Muslims pause. Emanuel is the son of Israeli immigrants and served as a citizen volunteer in the Israeli army during the first Gulf War in 1991 (not that Israel was part of that). Although he toes the line on most Democratic policy positions, he is less committed on two items sensitive to Muslims \u2013 the Iraq War (he is more hesitant to withdraw) and immigration (cooperating with anti-immigrant congressmen like Republican Tom Tancredo). <\/p>\n
So what affect will this have as Obama\u2019s chief of staff? If we want to give Obama the benefit of the doubt, Emanuel is well served for the primary responsibilties of his position \u2013 managing and protecting Obama\u2019s inner circle with an iron fist. To the extent that he will influence Obama adversely on the Israel\/Palestine question, it bears reminding that Obama\u2019s friendship with Palestinian professor Rashid Khalidi came to light when he attended a dinner in Khalidi\u2019s honor \u2013 right in the middle of his campaign. <\/p>\n
Emanuel\u2019s relationship with Obama is too long lasting (and Emanuel too qualified) to consider his appointment a reaction to the Khalidi story. Nevertheless, Obama has referred to Khalidi as someone who challenges his \u201cown biases.\u201d Will Emanuel reinforce them, or will Obama be strategic enough to find a practical middle ground?<\/p>\n
Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com. He is based in London, England.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barack Obama’s selection of Rahm Emanuel is a worrying start to pro-Palestinian hopes in his administration. But when compared to his friendship with Rashid Khalidi, is Obama being reactionary with the Emanuel pick – or strategically open minded?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":531,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asides"],"yoast_head":"\n