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Some Muslim Americans Wonder If Obama's Inclusiveness Is "Just Words"
June 24, 2008 9:56 AM
A provocative story in today's New York Times takes a look at some Muslim Americans who are disappointed that Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, whose father was born a Muslim, hasn't done much to reach out to American Muslims.
The campaign is clearly sensitive to the false rumor that he's a Muslim, but has its sensitivity turned into insensitivity? Obama has yet to visit a mosque, and of course last week two Muslim women wearing hijabs were asked to not appear in the background behind Obama at a Michigan rally. (Obama apologized to the two women and his campaign said the request was apparently the result of a rogue volunteer or two.)
“The community feels betrayed,” Safiya Ghori, the government relations director in the Washington office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, tells the NYT.
“A lot of us are waiting for him to say that there’s nothing wrong with being a Muslim, by the way,” says Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to Congress, who was asked by the campaign not to campaign for Obama in Iowa and North Carolina because, an Obama aide explained, the campaign has "a very tightly wrapped message."
Obama being accused of being a Muslim constitutes a conundrum for a self-described inclusive politician -- not unlike a liberal politician being accused of being gay. Theoretically, those who embrace diversity and tolerance say there's nothing wrong with homosexuality, and yet when one is falsely accused of being gay, or being Muslim, it's usually by someone who is trying to feed into prejudices.
But if you push back too hard you can seem as though you think there's something wrong with being gay. Or being Muslim.
Or being anything, really. (You might recall September 2006 when a reporter asked then-Sen.. George Allen, R-Vir., about a report in The Forward newspaper that he had Jewish roots, and Allen acted as if he'd just been accused of having herpes.)
There's an electoral aspect to this as well. There are small but significant Muslim populations in swing states such as Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia. As the Times reports today, in Allen's re-election race, the Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee targeted an estimated 60,000 Muslim voters in the Commonwealth, and arranged for 53 Muslim cabdrivers to help get these voters to the polls.
VMPAC says 86 percent of Virginia's Muslim voters turned and most went for Jim Webb, giving Democrats their narrow majority in the U.S. Senate.
Webb won by 9,000 votes. (And not incidentally, there went George Allen's presidential hopes for 2008.)
- jpt
June 24, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (68)
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'Obama apologized to the two women and his campaign said the request was apparently the result of a rogue volunteer...'
"A rogue volunteer" LOL
Yeah, his name is Axelrod
Posted by: lamecandidate | Aug 2, 2008 11:00:34 AM
Tommy Thompson...This is not 1960. Obama is running a campaign of new politics and unity. And fighting racism. Racism applies to all races and religions, not just white and black.That means everybody. You don't send the muslim women to the back of the bus, because they may tarnish your campaign. Although, I guess that's better than under the bus.If he were truely a unifier, he would have turned around and shook their hands, and then smiled in the camera.
Posted by: Bea | Jun 25, 2008 6:10:49 PM
SENATOR McCAIN SAID TODAY: “I AM GOING TO CAMPAIGN IN ALL THIRTEEN COLONIES. MY CAMPAIGN WILL EMPLOY ALL THE LATEST TECHNOLOGIES: THE TELEGRAPH, THE CARRIER PIGEON AS WELL AS THE PONY EXPRESS.
Posted by: rhbate | Jun 25, 2008 3:22:44 PM
IF YOU LIKE THIS ECONOMY;
IF YOU LIKE THIS NEVER-ENDING WAR;
IF YOU LIKED HIS VOTE AGAINST A GI BILL FOR IRAQ VETS;
IF LIKE PAYING HIGH GAS PRICES;
IF LIKE THE TAX BREAKS FOR THE RICH;
IF YOU CAN'T WAIT TO INVADE IRAN;
IF YOU LIKE HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT;
IF YOU LIKE A PRESIDENT WHO VOTED AGAINST EQUAL PAY FOR WOMEN;
IF YOU LIKE A PRESIDENT WHO VOTED AGAINST MATERNITY LEAVE FOR WOMEN;
IF YOU LOOK FORWARD TO THE END OF ROE V. WADE;
IF YOU LIKE THE UNFAIR TRADE POLICIES THAT SEND JOBS AND TECHNOLOGY OVERSEAS;
IF YOU LIKE A GOVERNMENT THAT PRACTICES TORTURE;
IF YOU LIKE A GOVERNMENT THAT SPIES ON ITS OWN CITIZEN;
IF YOU LIKE THE FACT THAT THE US IS ONE OF THE MOST REVILED NATIONS ON THE PLANET, THEN YOU'LL JUST LOVE McCAIN.
Posted by: rhbate | Jun 25, 2008 3:20:45 PM
of course it is "Just Words" that is all you really have from obama.
___________________
And you have to remember...that "speech" he was giving was someone elses...one that he borrowed.
Posted by: Unbelievable | Jun 24, 2008 5:00:21 PM
-----------------------------------------You BETCHA!
Posted by: HP Boston | Jun 25, 2008 9:58:19 AM
Inclusion not exclusion!
Obama 08!
Posted by: Hope For Change | Jun 25, 2008 4:08:11 AM
Demographics.
Obama 08!
Posted by: Hope For Change | Jun 25, 2008 3:53:10 AM
"dont think were getting out of iraq anytime soon if john mccain is president"
Posted by: bhrandon | Jun 24, 2008 11:03:12 AM
........OR if OBama is president.
Posted by: hmmmmm. | Jun 24, 2008 7:22:01 PM
McCain = Keating 5....great choice! Talk about more of 2 evils...hoop...there he is!
Posted by: Bob | Jun 24, 2008 6:40:53 PM
It really doesn't matter what Obama says since he can't hurt us anymore than we've already been hurt the last 20 years. Obama offers a chance for change and no one in the last 20 years has brought any change to make this country better
Posted by: Bob | Jun 24, 2008 5:45:18 PM
of course it is "Just Words" that is all you really have from obama.
___________________
And you have to remember...that "speech" he was giving was someone elses...one that he borrowed.
Posted by: Unbelievable | Jun 24, 2008 5:00:21 PM
I am so sick of Barack Obama calling out Jesus on every mistake he made! Obama isn't perfect, either - far from it!
Posted by: Ali Abaf-Akaie | Jun 24, 2008 4:43:18 PM
With Hillary out of the Picture....(maybe) Must pick one of the 2 lesser evil...And that is McCain....
Obama is a Fake and a Liar.
How embarrassing to consider a President who claims he needs money to fight Racism....when all he brought to the table was RACE and TOTAL DIVISION....
When Obama pandered at the fundraising in Florida--reminding people he was Black was totally sick.....really belittles what most Americans fight for----equality.....
But then Obama can't run on equal terms, then everyone would know how really shallow he really is......proof under his bus.
Posted by: carpenter.nyc | Jun 24, 2008 4:33:36 PM
This is so silly -- if the Muslim supporters are really supporters they might understand the situation with the same compassion they expect -- given that it was volunteers who acted in place of Obama -- I have been to these in two states and you are lucky you get in and get a seat some are great but it is grass roots.
Also this item about the Congressman that "complained" -- it says the event was to have taken place in December, so unless that's a typo -- aren't people just trying to make Mountains out of molehills.
Posted by: Paulet | Jun 24, 2008 4:27:36 PM
Lookup,
The entire country will be as red as the faces of Obama, his supporters, and DNC in November!
Pack your belongings and go hiding in the cave with your savior Obama after the election!
Posted by: NoObama in Dallas, TX | Jun 24, 2008 3:35:00 PM
Crookedpolitician,
Thanks for speaking up for me. I have the same thing in my mind!
Posted by: NoObama in Dallas, TX | Jun 24, 2008 3:28:13 PM
Crookedpolitician,
Thanks for speaking up for me. I have the same thing in my mind!
Posted by: NoObama in Dallas, TX | Jun 24, 2008 3:28:03 PM
I suppose calling the Obama-haters out on their hypocrisy warrants your being silenced around these parts.
Freedom of expression, indeed.
Posted by: Fredo | Jun 24, 2008 3:20:59 PM
Great Video about Obama and his JUST WORDS theory.
Posted by: wagon | Jun 24, 2008 2:54:36 PM
Thomas Jefferson once said; "A GOVERNMENT BIG ENOUGH TO GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU WANT, IS STRONG ENOUGH TO TAKE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE." Obama will prove him correct.
Posted by: Russ | Jun 24, 2008 2:41:24 PM
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