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Keeping the Eye on the Ball, Not
Emanuel
By Khatchig Mouradian
The selection of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff—the first
major appointment by President-elect Barack Obama—did not
fare well with many Armenian-Americans who supported the
Illinois Senator’s bid for presidency. While the
Armenian-Americans who overwhelmingly voted for Obama showed
signs of unease, those who supported the McCain-Palin ticket
were quick to exclaim, I told you so!
The concerns of Armenian-Americans are understandable.
Beginning with his days in the Clinton Administration
through his years in Congress, Emanuel’s support has been
mixed. It appears—if we are to take Robert Novak’s word for
it—Emanuel opposed Clinton Administration affirmation of the
Armenian Genocide. And yet, in his first term in Congress in
2003, he cosponsored Armenian Genocide legislation
(H.Res.193) and urged President Bush in 2003, 2004 and 2005
to properly characterize the events from 1915-1923 as
genocide.
Back then, Emanuel wasn’t afraid to question U.S. assistance
to Turkey. In fact, in February 2003, when Congress was
considering a $24 billion aid package to Turkey in return
for allowing U.S. troops to open up a northern front to
battle Iraqi insurgents, Emanuel was positively poetic in
listing the myriad of domestic uses for those funds—from “no
child left behind programs,” to college tuition assistance.
Turkey eventually blocked U.S. troops from setting up the
northern front.
Since 2006, it appears Emanuel has gone back to his
Clinton-Administration days, counseling Speaker Pelosi not
to place the Armenian Genocide resolution on the House
agenda—advice that Pelosi and the House leadership did not
heed.
So, again, that Armenian-Americans are concerned is
understandable. What is not understandable, however, is the
leap that many Armenian-Americans are making—concluding that
the appointment of Emanuel is proof that Obama is somehow on
the road to reneging on his election pledge even before
taking his oath of office.
Such thinking comes off to be a bit naive. If the criteria
for appointing a presidential chief of staff were for him to
agree with the President on every single issue, no one would
ever serve in that post. The President will have points of
agreement and disagreement with his chief of staff—and all
members of his Administration, for that matter—with the
final word being that of the President, himself. Not to
mention the fact that it is foolhardy to think that the
President’s choice of a chief of staff would be decided on a
single human rights issue—however just.
Armenian-American critics of the Emanuel pick ought to keep
in mind the impressive record of President-elect Obama
and—perhaps even more importantly—that of vice
President-elect Biden, when it comes to issues of concern to
Armenian-Americans. Although their record does not guarantee
their support of Genocide recognition now that they have
assumed the highest office of the country, it should, at
least, make one think twice before jumping to conclusions.
Concentrating on the Emanuel pick is a distraction.
Regardless of who the chief of staff is, immense pressure is
going to be exerted on Obama—by some Washington elites, the
Turkish state and U.S.-based lobby groups working openly or
silently for the Turkish government—to dissuade him from
recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
Given that reality, Armenian-Americans have two clear
choices. To sit on their hands, thinking that they already
did their part by voting for Obama and now it is his turn to
deliver, or to struggle more fiercely than ever for truth
and justice, knowing well that they have in the highest
office of their country, a President who understands their
struggle for truth and justice—certainly more than his
predecessors.
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