Obama’s Muslim problem
By Ben Harris on Jun 24, 2008 in Barack Obama, Presidential Race |
According to a piece in today’s New York Times, Barack Obama may have been bending so far backwards to reassure voters that he’s not a closet Muslim that he has offended, well, Muslims. Obama has even kept Washington’s sole Muslim lawmaker, Keith Ellison, at arm’s length.
The Times reports:
While the senator has visited churches and synagogues, he has yet to appear at a single mosque. Muslim and Arab-American organizations have tried repeatedly to arrange meetings with Mr. Obama, but officials with those groups say their invitations — unlike those of their Jewish and Christian counterparts — have been ignored. Last week, two Muslim women wearing head scarves were barred by campaign volunteers from appearing behind Mr. Obama at a rally in Detroit.
In interviews, Muslim political and civic leaders said they understood that their support for Mr. Obama could be a problem for him at a time when some Americans are deeply suspicious of Muslims. Yet those leaders nonetheless expressed disappointment and even anger at the distance that Mr. Obama has kept from them.
“This is the ‘hope campaign,’ this is the ‘change campaign,’ ” said Mr. Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota. Muslims are frustrated, he added, that “they have not been fully engaged in it.”
Instead of a big tent, Obama has a big bus. There is plenty of room under it for anyone (his white grandmother, Jeremiah Wright, Michael Pfleger, his church, and now Muslims) who becomes an embarrassment to him.
Bill Levinson | Jun 24, 2008 | Reply
I wish someone would throw you under a bus. You’re an embarrassment to the Jewish people.
Frank N. Bean | Jun 27, 2008 | Reply
Re: “I wish someone would throw you under a bus. You’re an embarrassment to the Jewish people.”
Ah, intelligent and rational discourse. I cited facts–Obama threw the indicated individuals under the bus when they became an embarrasment to his campaign–and Mr. Bean responded with a schoolyard insult.
Bill Levinson | Jun 29, 2008 | Reply
How did his grandmother embarrass his campaign? He spoke about his grandmother’s latent racism in order to address a point about racism in America. The only people who deemed that “throwing her under the bus” were Fox News’ anchors.
Obama did not throw Rev. Wright under the bus or his church — he was forced to distance himself from both by, among others, Jewish voters who demanded he account for his involvement in a church that promoted inflammatory rhetoric.
People like you insisted he back away, and when he did, you accuse him of throwing them under the bus. This isn’t the first time you’ve pulled this kind of garbage, insisting Obama comply with your perspective and then attacking him for doing so.
You’re a cheap political hack and you should just shut it already.
Frank N. Bean | Jun 30, 2008 | Reply
Oh, and the Muslim thing… Right, the RJC and GOP are accusing Obama of being a secret Muslim. So he should run around hugging Muslims so that you can stick those photos in Florida newspapers and make sure he doesn’t get elected. And because he’s not stupid enough to allow himself to have his image used in such a way, he’s throwing Muslims under the bus. You are full of garbage.
Frank N. Bean | Jun 30, 2008 | Reply