2008-11-13 Emanuel Apologizes for Father's "Arab" Comments

2008-11-13 Sarah Wheaton New York Times \Rahm Emanuel\Benjamin M. Emanuel\US-Arab relations http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arab-american-group-decries-emanuels-fathers-smear/ Emanuel Apologizes for Father's "Arab" Comments Emanuel Apologizes for Father's "Arab" Comments  Representative Rahm Emanuel, ... President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, called the president of an Arab-American group today to apologize for comments his father made to an Israeli newspaper. In the remarks, Benjamin Emanuel discussed the potential impact of his son's new position on U.S.-Israeli relations. "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," the elder Mr. Emanuel told the Israeli daily Ma'ariv, according to English-language reports in The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. It sounds like they were calculatedly taking Benjamin's "mopping the floors" comment as a slur on Arabs, when what seems more likely is that he was saying that "influencing the president" was part of Rahm's job, and of course he's going to be pro-Israel because he's Jewish.

&ldquo;Representative Rahm Emanuel, ... President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, called the president of an Arab-American group today to apologize for comments his father made to an Israeli newspaper.&rdquo;   