So, what kind of holiday card is Joe Walsh going to send to Raja Krishnamoorthi and Tammy Duckworth?
Walsh is in a snit because he’s discovered congressmen are not allowed to include religious salutations on letters to their constituents. Along with Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., he is seeking to overturn the regulation, which has been in place since 1974.
“It’s fairly outrageous that a congressman can’t say ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah’ to constituents,” Walsh told the Sun-Times.
Instead, members are instructed to write “Happy Holidays,” which Walsh called “political correctness run amok.”
This is Walsh’s second attempt to save Christmas. Last month, he introduced the “Save Christmas Act” to prevent the Obama Administration from levying a 15-cent tax on Christmas trees to fund a Christmas Tree Promotion Board.
It’s interesting that Walsh’s outrage over religious muzzling is limited to Christianity and Judaism. But it makes a little more sense when you realize he recently decided to run in the 8th Congressional District, where he is guaranteed to draw a Democratic opponent who was born in a non-Christian nation.
Raja Krishnamoorthi is from India, a Hindu country. Tammy Duckworth is from Thailand, a Buddhist country. This Christmas crusade is one way for Walsh to floss his nativism and remind the anti-immigrant, Birther crowd that he’s the real American in the race.
Also, how do you know exactly which greeting to put on the letter? Take my family. My father and I are Presbyterian, so we’d like “Merry Christmas.” My mother and sister are Jewish, so they’d like “Happy Hanukkah.” My brother is a Unitarian, so he’d probably like “Happy Holidays.” No matter which holiday letter a congressman sent to our household, he’d be leaving out 60 percent of the inhabitants.
But maybe that’s the point. Walsh also has Muslims in his northwest suburban district. They celebrated the Islamic New Year, on Nov. 26. Shouldn’t Walsh be outraged that he can’t send a letter beginning “Happy Al-Hijira”?
He also represents outspoken atheist activist Rob Sherman of Buffalo Grove. Nah. This isn’t about making sure everyone’s religion is respected. It’s about reminding non-Christians and non-Jews they live in a Judeo-Christian country.
Buy this book! Ward Room blogger Edward McClelland's book, Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President , is available Amazon. Young Mr. Obama includes reporting on President Obama's earliest days in the Windy City, covering how a presumptuous young man transformed himself into presidential material. Buy it now!
