Obama's pick of Rahm Emanuel is telling. Some are questioning why he chose a man whose family were ardent Zionists and has a legacy of fighting for Israel. Be it his father's role in the Irgun or Rahm's volunteering with the IDF, there is no doubt that his family is tied with Israel. Those could be troubling issues, but I think that Obama's choice of Emanuel was nothing but cold hard politics. According to the Washington Post, Obama captured approximately 77% of the Jewish vote, so would he kowtow to Jewish voters by selecting a Rahm as chief of staff?
Rahm is a bad ass, he has significant authority in the House, and he helped numerous candidates raise money and achieve reelection. I think the most likely explanation is Obama knows Rahm well from Chicago politics, and he could believe that his presidency has the possibility to transform the United States and he needs enforcers on his side to limit the number of legislative impasses with the House. Rahm wouldn't be a legislative aide, but he could easily work in that capacity if the House goes wildcard. I expect he hopes Biden will perform a similar function.
Obama's leadership style seems to value discipline and uniformity when selling a message. I doubt he will have many problems with either side of our wonderful bicameral legislative bodies, but I think the concern about Rahm's link to Israel might be a bit overstated. I see where some would heartily disagree, but, if anything, he very well could plan on using Rahm to whip the Israelis into accepting American positions.
2 comments:
You also failed to mention that the show Entourage's character Ari is based on his brother...just a tid bit to add
I thought about mentioning it as far as hereditary bad ass traits, but I didn't know if I should work it in. Good call.
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