World

The New Chief

Rahm Emanuel: attack dog, policy wonk, committed Jew.

Ron Kampeas

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Washington

p

olitical insight, killer in a fight,
Yiddishkeit — it's an inseparable
package when it comes to Rahm
Emanuel, say those who know President-
elect Barack Obama's pick to be the next
White House chief of staff.
Since his days as a fundraiser and then
a "political adviser" — read: enforcer —
for President Clinton, Emanuel has earned
notoriety as a no-holds-barred politico.
Accept the good with the bad because
it's of a piece, said Steve Rabinowitz, who
worked with Emanuel in the Clinton White
House.
"He can be a mamzer, but he's our
mamzer," said Rabinowitz, using the
Yiddish term for "bastard;' speaking both
as a Democrat and a Jew. "Sometimes
that's what you need!'
The apocrypha is legendary, if some-
what hard to pin down: jabbing a knife
into a table screaming, "Dead!" as col-
leagues shout out the names of political
enemies, sending a dead fish to a rival,
screaming at friends and enemies alike for
no good reason.
Even his allies acknowledge that
Emanuel, 48, can be on edge at times.
"He's not running for Miss Congeniality,
ever:' said U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowslcy, D-
Ill., who has known Emanuel since they
worked at Illinois Public Action, a public
interest group, in the early 1980s. "He is
relentless; he doesn't give up, but in a stra-
tegic way. He's good at figuring out other
people's self-interest and negotiating in a
way that comes out in his favor."
Emanuel, an Illinois congressman who
boasts strong ties to his local Jewish com-
munity and to Israel, also can be seen as
embodying Obama's stated commitment
to Israeli security and diplomacy: During
the first Iraq war, Emanuel flew to Israel
as a volunteer to help maintain military
vehicles. Two years later, he was an aide to
Clinton, helping to push along the newly
launched Oslo process.
Within four months of joining the
U.S. House of Representatives in 2003,
Emanuel had an impressive command of
the issues, said Michael Kotzin, the direc-
tor of the Chicago Jewish Community

Relations Council.
"He gave a thorough and insightful
analysis of issues on our agenda," said
Kotzin, adding that Emanuel was respon-
sive to his Jewish constituents.
Obama chose Emanuel to escort him to
a closed-door meeting with leaders of the
pro-Israel lobby AIPAC in June, a day after
the final Democratic primaries.
One thing Emanuel is not, all agree, is
the president-elect's conciliatory signal to
the Jewish community after a campaign
fraught with worries that Obama would
tip toward even-handedness in dealing
with the Middle East.
Emanuel was chosen strictly for his
political skills and his closeness to Obama,
said Rabinowitz, whose public relations
firms work with Jewish groups and the
Democratic Party and its affiliates. His
closeness to the Jewish community "would
be a tiny factor, if at all" in the hiring,
Rabinowitz said.
The Arab and pro-Arab media have
made much of the fact that Emanuel's
father is Israeli, and Benjamin Emanuel
didn't improve matters in an interview
with Ma'ariv.
"Obviously:' the senior Emanuel told the
Israeli daily, "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."
In truth, some observers say, Obama's
Jewish supporters and Emanuel's Arab
critics are oversimplifying by painting the
new chief of staff as a guardian of Israeli
interests.
Emanuel will be a strong voice for
Israeli security — but also one with the
standing to cast a skeptical eye on some
Israeli claims.
"Rahm, precisely because he's a lover of
Israel, will not have much patience with
Israeli excuse-making," Jeffrey Goldberg,
a writer for The Atlantic, suggested on his
blog. "So when the next prime minister
tells President Obama that as much as
he'd love to, he can't dismantle the Neve
Manyak settlement outpost, or whichever
outpost needs dismantling, because of a)
domestic politics; b) security concerns; or
c) the Bible, Rahm will call out such non-
sense; and it will be very hard for right-
wing Israelis to come back and accuse him
of being a self-hating Jew."
Tom Dine, a past president of the

American Israel Public
Affairs Committee and a
senior policy adviser to
the Israeli Policy Forum,
concurred and said that
Emanuel's knowledge of
the issue will mean i's are
dotted and t's are crossed.
"God help the national
security staffer who
incorrectly spells an
Israel town name Dine
said. "Having said that,
he has to be very careful;
he can't step on the toes
of the secretary of state,
the national security
advisers, of Joe Biden,"
the vice president-elect
whose emphasis will be
foreign policy.

On His Shirtsleeve
The significance of
Emanuel's Jewishness is
more how unremarkable
it is that an unapologetic
Barack Obama's pick for White House chief of staff has
Jew should rise so far,
strong ties to Israel and the Jewish community.
said Abraham Foxman,
the national director
of the Anti-Defamation League. "He has
More than his brothers, Emanuel remem-
never hesitated to wear it proudly on his
bered, he tended to darken in the Israeli
sleeve," Foxman said.
sun. He was scooting around on his bike
During Emanuel's freshman run
when a bigger kid grabbed it, saying black
for Congress in 2002, a backer of his
kids weren't welcome in the neighbor-
Democratic primary opponent in the
hood.
largely Polish district noted his service in
Ari, Rahm recalled, "beat the crap out
Israel during the first Iraq war. Emanuel
of him" — not because of the bike, not to
shrugged off the accusation as true
protect his brother, "but because of what
— and won by a wide margin.
he said about black kids."
His brother, Hollywood super agent and
Rahm defended his brother in terms
liberal activist Ari Emanuel, also has been he might have applied to himself: "Where
• unapologetic about his support for Jewish
others see fierceness, I see loyalty. Where
causes. He sparked headlines when he
others see intensity, I see passion."
called on people in the movie industry to
In general, Emanuel is fiercely loyal to
blackball Mel Gibson over The Passion of
his family, and they were a consideration
the Christ.
in his hesitation to take work he's always
Both brothers have inspired a television dreamed of having — he waited two
character: Rahm is said to be the model
days to say yes. Obama, in his statement
for Josh Lyman on The West Wing, and
announcing the pick, recognized the pain
Ari more famously is immortalized as the
it would cause Emanuel's wife, Amy, and
agent/predator Ari Gold on the HBO series "their children, Zach, liana and Leah."
Entourage.
Emanuel, born to an Israeli doctor who
A year ago, honoring his Hollywood
married a local woman after he moved to
agent brother for supporting children
Chicago in the mid-1950s, speaks Hebrew
with learning disabilities, Rahm Emanuel
recalled returning from Israel in 1967.
The New Chief on page A32

MI

November 13 • 2008

A31

