THE PLANK JUNE 24, 2008
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I think this A1 Times piece is a smart, important piece of reporting, if its underlying thematics point to a disappointing political reality. One key point of debate:
In an interview with “60 Minutes,” Mr. Obama said the rumors were
offensive to American Muslims because they played into “fearmongering.”
But on a new section of his Web site, he classifies the claim that he
is Muslim as a “smear.”“A lot of us are waiting for him to say that there’s nothing wrong with being a Muslim, by the way,” Mr. Ellison said.
I completely agree with Ellison. After all, it's factually accurate that there's nothing wrong with being a Muslim. I don't think the ten percent of the nation that (according to Pew) believes Barack Obama is himself Muslim will increase because he acknowledges this reality. In fact, the invariable freak show of coverage that would follow such a statement could defang the rumor (more light!), and could go a long way, imagistically, in reinforcing the notion of Obama as reformer.
However, I think we're not likely to hear that from Obama soon. This is, again, the result of the punitive politics that a President Obama seeks
to transcend, and reinforces how the journey between "hope" and "change" is barely paved. For now, candidate Obama's benign neglect on Islam is as damaging and divisive as the statements themselves, or most of the GOP's cheerful profiteering from voter fears and prejudices.
Ta-Nehisi Coates also thinks Obama "deserved the hit," adding
Apparently Ellison and Obama got into it about the head-scarf fiasco. But here is why I support Obama for president, despite the fact that his campaign was dead wrong:
The conversation got so heated that CBC
Chairwoman Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.) banged her gavel to try and
quiet Ellison. Obama though asked Kilpatrick to let Ellison speak.After Ellison finished, Obama told the caucus that he regretted the
incident, but said that he had not ordered the women to be removed.
Following the meeting, Obama called the women to apologize.Classy. Very classy. That said, I am glad that Ellison called Obama to task. We have to hold him accountable.
--Dayo Olopade
20 comments
The base of the Republican party spent 40+ years trying to get a candidate in office that had exactly their views, politics be damned. And what did they end up with: Someone who completely destroyed the party, the standing of the country in the world, the economy; and someone who weakened the military by sending them off to overthrow a country that had not attacked us. As much as we all want the anti-Bush, demanding that he redress each and every little mishap against our feelings will only create another one.
- anonevent
June 24, 2008 at 12:51pm
The smear is that he's lying about his faith and pretending to be a Christian.
- chrismealy
June 24, 2008 at 12:52pm
Obama is wussing out on this - I hammered Clinton on her tossing Muslims overboard (I'm getting as tired of "under the bus" as anyone else). I no more accept the "its my staff" excuse than I believe in the tooth fairy. I know Obama is in a more charged position in this one that Clinton, being the "accused" and all, which only makes his craven, cowardly response more dissappointing. He could have handled this with courage and gained so much more than how he's handled it.
Is it possible for a campaign to be too careful until it backfires entirely? I know he has a tough rode to hoe, but as I said to and about Hillary dozens of times: life isnt fair. Spine please Obama, spine.
- Wandreycer1
June 24, 2008 at 1:09pm
"After all, it's factually accurate that there's nothing wrong with being a Muslim."
Oh? I take it you're not a skeptic ...
- Androscoggin
June 24, 2008 at 1:15pm
If the 10% who think he's a Muslim are denying him their vote on that basis, then the false statement that he is a Muslim is a smear, and an effective one at that. He is justified in denying such a damaging assertion.
Should he go out of his way to defend Islam? I don't think so. Religion is politics today, and he will do better to give in rather than make fuzzy speeches about religious freedom. Freedom is just another word for getting your co-believer into the White House. Besides, Obama is too busy courting Dobson and other theocrats to make such a speech.
Obama is likely to win more votes based on religious preference than he loses to mistaken assumptions about his faith. If he can split the Evangelical vote, and pick up some lapsed Catholics and gay Episcopalians, and maybe some disaffected Romney-loving Mormons, he may be able to overcome the problem of confused anti-Muslim voters.
I wonder when we will all have had enough of this.
Neil
- purcellneil
June 24, 2008 at 1:25pm
He will (say something about "there's nothing wrong with being a Muslim"). Not only because these "slights" are unintended and he truly believes it, but he doesn't want to lose the election because the margin of victory in Michigan was an unexpected Arab turnout for McCain.
- Lymon1
June 24, 2008 at 1:52pm
Believe it or not kids, there is a substantial difference between Islam and Christianity. Wishing for a copasetic by virtue of enlightened relativism is foolish. Certainly at this point in time. Words mean things, however difficult it may be to define the full import of those words. Like it or not that is where we are. Each and everyone of us. Bless our little hearts.
- boxofrox
June 24, 2008 at 1:55pm
I agree with chris. I also agree with Wandreycer on Obama's over-caution.
I don't judge them too harshly for the "head scarf gaffe," though. I don't doubt that the campaign's motivation was pure political optics. I would like to think, though, that someone over there also thought of the women involved. If they'd been in that shot they would have appeared in just about every single anti-Obama attack ad from now until November. Floyd Brown and his slimy ilk would have made those women the face of "Islamofasicm" across the nation. They don't deserve that.
- WoodyBombay
June 24, 2008 at 2:09pm
On at least one occasion, responding to the viral emails, I heard Obama point out, after explaining that they were false, that they were also offensive to Muslims, since they were implying that there's something wrong with being Muslim. I can't remember the exact words he used, and it was only a sentence or two, but I thought at the time it was a nice way of handling the rumours. It simultaneously pointed out the lie about his own faith and the offensiveness of fearmongering against Muslims. Why can't he just do this consistently whenever he (or the campaign) speaks out against the rumours? It seems unlikely that this would increase that 10%-who-think-he's-a-Muslim number. He doesn't need to give a big speech or make a big deal out of it.
- hemlock41
June 24, 2008 at 2:14pm
chrismealy: "The smear is that he's lying about his faith and pretending to be a Christian."
Exactly. The Manchurian Candidate scenario is a smear, and there isn't anything wrong with calling it that. It would be classy if Obama could explicitly state that being a muslim isn't a bad thing every time someone raises the question, but he also can't get drawn into a long debate about this - I think he just wants to call "BS" and move on, which is the appropriate tactical response. Ideally, he could do what hemlock41 suggests and do both, which would be best.
Also, I'm not sure its fair to say that the Obama response has been "as damaging and divisive as the statements themselves." The people who are spreading the rumors are obviously the problem.
- alittleblackegg
June 24, 2008 at 2:59pm
Someone told Diogenes, "can't you see people are mocking you?" To which he replied, "Ah, yes, but I am not mocked."
Nice vocation, if you can get it - a philosopher clad in rags and living in a barrel. Well, Obama ain't Diogenes. He may well not be mocked, but there should be no mistake that when Republicans spread stories about him being a Mooslim, it is not out of repect for the heritage of his forefathers, or for Islam for that matter. It is meant as a smear, and it has to be countered as one.
Senator Obama is running for the Presidency of a largely Chrisian, though officially secular nation. The United States is occupying two Muslim states and is involved in a global war against terrorists who adhere to, or pretend to adhere to, radical Islam. It may be unfortunate, but it to be expected that pockets in this country would have some concern, if not trepidation, about electing a potentially "Muslim" President. For this reason, too, it makes sense for the good Senator to dispel concerns; it is good politics, it is also good policy.
To American Muslims, gays, liberals, minorities, anarcho-syndalists and anyone else who might be tired of Shrub in power and is looking for a Shining Knight on a White Horse, free of all political and policy impurities, I have this to say: politics is about choosing, and often, it is about choosing the less bad over the bad. Obama is NOT a shining knight. He is a politician, and a gifted one. He also happens to be the less bad option in this election. You (and we all) can be hurt because he is not giving us our due (whatever we consider it to be), but consider the alternative and ask yourself whether demanding apologies and explanations for every possible, potential, actual or perceived slight is the way to get rid of the bad and install the less bad.
- icarusr
June 24, 2008 at 3:52pm
This whole situation is jacked up, but not just because of the no-win game of dodge-the-smear that less savory types have initiated.
Also, Obama cannot broach the topic of it being OK to be a Muslim for 2 reasons. First, because the instant he stops responding with "I am not a Muslim", anything he says will be implied acknowledgement that he is a Muslim, and everything snowballs from there. It would probably look like "He didn't deny it" -> "Muslim sympathizer" -> "Soft on Middle East Foreign Policy" -> "Lets Taliban attack America again" -> "Sells Israel to Iran" -> "Iraq collapses into turmoil". The second reason is because no one out there is explicitly saying it is bad to be a Muslim; this is the implication that everyone sees, but anyone who might be attacked can immediately step back and say "I never meant to imply it was bad to be a Muslim", especially considering the Muslim thing is a chain letter and not openly endorsed by any national Republican figures. If Obama does try to pivot against that beast, the Muslims angst with Obama might dissipate, but he'll be open to new lines of attack: "Over-reacting to a simple chain letter", or "Really a Muslim hater that is in denial", or even the "Muslim sympathiser" series again.
Like it or not, all Obama can do is profess his faith and declare the rumor to be a lie. Any more than that gives the issue legs it would not have otherwise.
As for those upset with Obama's failure to embrace the Muslims openly, perhaps one of the intrepid reports at TNR could interview Obama about why this is, or Ellison about what Obama said to him that satisfied his concerns: "An Ellison spokesman says the meeting satisfied the Minnesota lawmaker's concerns." Something tells me Obama has some decent answers and responses to some peoples' questions, but no one is reporting anything. I'm betting they just don't want to be labelled an Obamaton, or Obamaniac, or some such noisy thing.
- GSpinks
June 24, 2008 at 4:13pm
Some of this feels too glib. Yes, there is a difference between Christianity and Islam. Yes, there is nothing wrong with being Muslim, for example.
In reality, there is a great specificity to this. In many parts of the world, it is Islam's turn this millenium (versus Chrsitianity in the last) to have a virus inflict it that made murderous fanatics out of mostly disaffected young men, then had hoards of cowards to cover it up and excuse it. Now it is Islam's turn and we have every right to fight it.
But it is also true that this virus - and the cultural and political weakness that enables it - is not part of the American Muslim experience in any significant way. As a matter of fact, Muslim-Americans and Muslim immigrants have historically been among the most civic minded, conservative, successful and patriotic of all immigrant populations. These are, generally, people who assilimilate wirth pride and industriousness. To not make reference to that fact in a grander argument against bigotry and a plea for understanding is to make the abadonment of thes fine Americans worse and to miss an opportunity to educate us, to help elevate us.
Pretty rough going down from the first black man who would be President - but more importantly, one who bases his entire campaign on hope and unity. Give me a break.
- Wandreycer1
June 24, 2008 at 5:47pm
Look, I never for one second bought the Obambi nonsense nor am I so precious that I quiver at the idea that Barack Obama is (insert screams) a poltician and will do whatever it is he needs to win. As with most successful politcians, he can be lizard-like in his analysis of who needs to go when and which morals need to be shelved for a larger purpose. so be it. It's never pretty, but its childish to think that is not a major component of success. Making sausage, etc.
But I'm allowed to be offended at the continued scapegoating of an immigrant group and a major religion by the candidate of my party. If I wanted that, I'd have voted Republican all these years. If Obama is really sharing concilatory, professor-ish, Obamaish hosannas out of the corner of his mouth on this to issue to reporters, I bet I would know. I do not.
- Wandreycer1
June 24, 2008 at 6:07pm
Jill. I would contend that what makes Christianity such an easy target is the rank hypocrisy which is impossible to escape from within its frame. Unfortunately there is little such structure and stricture within Islam as to allow for the same conviction. The two are far apart in this regard.
Now it is not my wish to offend the fine citizens you describe. I've not met them. I've only met their more belligerent brothers and sisters.
- boxofrox
June 24, 2008 at 6:27pm
"How is the McCain camps Muslim outreach going?"
"Why is the McCain camp shunning American Muslim?"
"When will McCain be visiting a local Mosque?"
- lamh31
June 24, 2008 at 8:49pm
If you don't think that removing several headscarf-wearing Muslims from behind Obama at a televised appearance is absolutely necessary then I don't know what to tell you. Does anyone seriously think Obama has a problem with Muslims? If not, then let the man do what he needs to do to get elected. Obama's civil libertarian inclinations will do far more to improve the lives of American Muslims than putting a couple of them on TV. If you're a Muslim and want to go to an Obama event, then either take off the religious garb or stay out of the shot! Is it fair? Absolutely not. But it's reality, and the only thing denying it will get you is a President John McCain.
- marcellusw101
June 25, 2008 at 9:18am
good point, lamb.
Box, I meant to add: "excluding you Box" when I sniped at scape-goating Republicans. We're all scapegoaters now (guess we always were).
- Wandreycer1
June 25, 2008 at 9:26am
A Muslim American friend helped create this website:
http://www.whyislam.org/877/
- Wandreycer1
June 25, 2008 at 9:29am
I hear you marcellusw101, you're right. I just feel an obligation to grumble loudly, at least. Can't help the way I was raised.
- Wandreycer1
June 25, 2008 at 9:44am