February 5, AD 2010
Frankly Speaking

Current Events Commentaries from a Biblical Perspective
by Frank Allnutt

An F-Word for Rahm Emanuel

Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s Chief of Staff, has been called on the carpet for crudely castigating progressive members of his own Democrat Party in Congress for berating conservative Democrat members whose hold-back votes they needed to pass health reform legislation. The incident became public recently in the press, but actually took place last summer. The exposé immediately took on nuclear proportions when Sarah Palin called for Emanuel’s resignation—for calling his over-bearing political allies “[gerund ‘F-word’] retards.” [Even that is closer to explicit than I care to be.]

Playground bickering over the years has given “retard” a derogative meaning. Over time the word has been replaced by kinder, more gentle descriptions such as “special needs” and “developmentally challenged.” But, to get his point across, Emanuel resorts to using the playground meaning of “retards” in his new playground, the White House. And it has erupted righteous anger over its affront to those with special needs and their caregivers and advocates.

News media coverage strongly indicates that those who decry Emanuel’s use of “retards” have won the debate in the court of public opinion. And it forced Emanuel to apologize to the special needs crowd.

Case closed? Not quite. I don’t recall hearing that Emanuel apologized to those progressive Democrats who he berated. Nor was there an apology—or any demand for an apology that I know of—over Emanuel’s use of the revoltingly vulgar gerund “F-word” to add further insult to “retards.” I’m outraged by this—and even more outraged that it has not triggered a far and wide chorus of outrage.

Was Sarah Palin outraged? Over “retards,” yes; but over the expletive?—personally and privately, no doubt, but publicly? Not that I know of. How about Bernie Goldberg on The O’Reilly Factor? He said there’s nothing wrong with the word “retard” except that the ultra-sensitive, Politically Correct crowd says it’s wrong. And he made no direct reference to that other word. “Morality has changed,” he limply observed.

From all appearances, it is Politically Incorrect to use the word “retards,” but it is Politically Correct (or, at least tolerable) for a high governmental official, in the course of carrying out his public duties, to blast people with the “F-word.”

Where is the moral outrage over this? Has even conservative society become that desensitized? Has yesterday’s Moral Majority apostatized into a silent Moral Minority?

Bernie Goldberg is partially right: morality has changed. But not for everyone. When I read the Bible I don’t see that God has changed a single word about morality.

The apostle Paul penned scripture that exhorts us all to “walk in love”...and “do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even to be named among you, as is proper among saints, and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting which are not fitting...” (Ephesians 5:2-4).

Americans are cut a lot of slack by our freedom of speech, but Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel should put his personal proclivities aside and answer to the higher calling that the dignity of his office demands.

I wonder if the biblical principles mentioned above were taught and practiced in the educational system and culture that produced Rahm Emanuel. If they were, then he deserves the grade of another F-word: “Failed.” On the other hand, maybe the system failed Emanuel. Would there have been a better outcome had his teachers been paid higher salaries and there had been more Community Organizers?

Well, perhaps this flap has brought the intelligent and politically savvy Rahm Emanuel to a point of repentance and he’ll change his ways. Next time he scolds over-bearing progressive Democrats, I won’t be surprised if he demonstrats more Political Correctness by calling them, “[Gerund F-word] developmentally challenged.”