This is sad. Sad for Obama. Sad for America's Muslims. He is a candidate who should really be made for America's beleaguered Arabic and Islamic population. He promises an end to the climate of permanent fear, an end to the organized disunity of the post 9/11 nightmare, an end to racial profiling and other defamations of the constitution, and an end to the liquidationist foreign policy of the Bush White House. But there's a problem. He doesn't want anyone to think he's a Muslim. Dear, oh, dear.
A definition of tragedy:
A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances.
Can Obama cope with the right-wing falsehoods being spread about his religion? Can he cope so as not to sideline an entire community, thereby foregoing a important voting bloc in the swing states, and harming his message of bringing the country together?
It's tough for him: according to the NYT article, ten percent of registered voters think he's a Muslim. One presumes that the people who believe this also believe that this should disqualify from the Presidency (which it wouldn't and shouldn't, if it were true, which it's not).
He doesn't want to encourage such falsehoods by, for instance, having Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison campaign with him in North Carolina. Or by having Ellison speak to the Islamic community in a campaign event held in, god forbid!, a Mosque.
This was the perverse fascination that obviously trickled down to those paranoid volunteers who wouldn't let two young Obama supporters sit behind because they were wearing the headscarf - and, well, you know, people might get the wrong idea.
I guess the wrong idea is that if you get support from Muslim Americans you must be a sleeper agent for Al-Qaeda who aims to destroy American from within by attaining the highest office by means of a massive deception...
This isn't a "wrong idea": it's a piece of flagrant hair-on-fire batshit crazy crap that only people who live in Coulter-land or have a permanent feed from Fake Noise could possibly inbibe.
I've defended him on other places on this issue. He's been good on the "He's a Muslim" meme - ensuring that it's the falsity of the accusation that it is important, not its content. But, as the MSNBC article points out, they call the "He's a Muslim" meme a "smear" on the new "Fight the Smears" campaign website.
It's all a bit horrible and seedy, isn't it?
For all the pragmatists out there, I ask, can he afford to give up the votes of 300,000 people in Michigan who trace their heritage back to the Middle East? Doesn't he want to get all those folks in Dearborn out? I know he wants to unite the country, end the divisions - I buy it.
It's up to the campaign to make sure they do it though. Sit down with some men who speak English, were born in America, love the country and have beards and read the Koran. The world will not explode, I guarantee it