Muslims on Obama “smears”
I’ve been struck how segments of the Muslim community - particulary the courageous Muslims against Sharia - are enraged with Obama for his failure to add a “so what if I were?” to his denial that he is a Muslim. He has changed the accusation on his “Fight the Smears” site to “is a secret Muslim,” but that has done nothing to assuage the fury.
First, I believe that Muslims against Sharia are absolutely right - Barack Hussein Obama should and could have taken a firm stand from the very beginning. If blacks and women have a right to be elected President of the United States, then so do Muslims - there is nothing in the US Constitution to the contrary.
Branding someone a terrorist because he or she is a Muslim - or is a Christian with a Muslim name - is just as absurd as it would have been to call everyone with an Irish name a terrorist when the IRA were setting off bombs in Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK. That would have included every Kyle, Kevin and Connor in the US of A. (I’m also reminded of the time when Kennedy’s opponents railed against him because he was a Catholic, claiming that he would be controlled by the Pope.)
Although Obama should have said “I’m not a Muslim, but even if I were, there would be nothing wrong with that,” the Muslims’ worst enemies are Karl Rove and all those who use Rovian tactics, Fox News commentators and conservative bloggers and emailers who fuel and pander to prejudice and bigotry by sending out scurrilous libels of Obama and, by association, the Muslim community, such as emails and comments about 99% of terrorists being “Muslim males between the ages of 18 and 40″ (try Googling the words in quotes or variations thereof). The injustice to the Muslim community is so staggering that the fact that Obama is 46 and a Christian seems hardly worth mentioning. Even NY Mayor Bloomberg has denounced the “whisper campaign“. In this regard, it is worthwhile reading this NY Times article on how lies live and grow in the brain.
If Senator Obama is elected President of the United States, I hope he will feel secure and confident enough to take a firm stand in favour of the peaceloving Muslim community and start the healing process. They, too, have a right to fight off slurs and live the “American dream.”
July 8th, 2008 at 9:27 am
[...] Howard Richman wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI’ve been struck how segments of the Muslim community - particulary the courageous Muslims against Sharia - are enraged with Obama for his failure to add a “so what if I were?” to his denial that he is a Muslim. … [...]
July 8th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
The article above claims that the Right is the enemy of Muslims. But what about the Left that displays just as much (if not more) Islamophobia as the Right? By making this ideologically based argument that has nothing to do with the facts, author is undermining credibility of otherwise fine article.
July 9th, 2008 at 7:26 am
As far as I’m concerned Muslims Against Sharia is just a neo-con smear group, and nothing they say has any credibility.
July 10th, 2008 at 4:10 am
Muslims Against Sharia is a blog collective that includes Pamela Geller, the (non-Muslim) owner of the anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate site “Atlas Shrugs.” She has in the past posted about wanting to ban Islam in the United States and has argued for the killing of innocent civilians in war.
Muslims Against Sharia has issued no statement condemning Geller’s Islamophic and eliminationist stance which, in contrast to Obama’s “smear” remark, is unambiguously anti-Muslim.
It would be wise to consider this group’s outrage with a truckload of salt.
July 10th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Just what I thought. Thanks BC!
August 27th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
To the angry Muslims. Obama knows what he’s doing, and YES IT IS WRONG TO BE A MUSLIM right now anyhow. There is a place and time for everything. From where Obama is standing today, being a Muslim is not in his best interest, he even had to change his CHRISTIAN connections. HE IS TRYING TO WIN THE BIGGEST OFFICE IN THE FREE WORLD. SHUT UP! AND GET REAL! YA ARE ALWAYS LOOKING LIKE A BUNCH OF HATERS. WHY IS THAT? IT APPEARS MUSLIMS ARE VERY SELF CENTERED, SELFISH, ME,ME,ME,ME,HURTING ME,ME,ME, GROUP OF CRY BABIES I HAVE EVER HEARD OF. FROM THIS ARTICLE, I NOW SEE HOW COME YOU ARE HAVING SO MANY PEOPLE REMAINING DISTANT FROM YOUR RELIOUS CULT, YES NOW I SEE IT IS A CULT, UNTIL YOU START HELPING AND THINKING ABOUT SOME BODY ELSE FOR A CHANGE, PEOPLE WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE UTTER DISRESPECT FOR YOU! YOU SELFISH BASTARDS!!!
October 15th, 2008 at 2:18 am
LINN, DON’T WORRY THE “MUSLIMS AGAINST SHARIA” AREN’T REALLY UPSET ABOUT INSULTING MUSLIMS. THEY PAL AROUND WITH PAMELA GELLER AND SHE HATES AND INSULTS MUSLIMS AND CALLS FOR THE EXPULSION AND EXTERMINATION OF MUSLIMS ALMOST REGULARLY. PAMELA GELLER AND HER BAND OF LIARS AND TRAITORS WANT TO DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT IS GREAT ABOUT AMERICA SO THAT THEY CAN KILL KILL KILL THE MUSLIMS AND ARABS THAT THEY HATE SO MUCH. THEY ARE ACTUALLY NEO-NAZIS PRETENDING TO BE JEWISH AND THEY USE CLASSIC NAZI PROPAGANDA LIKE SAYING THAT MUSLIMS AND ARABS ARE “COCKROACHES” AND “SUBHUMAN”. THEY ARE SELFISH BASTARDS WHO CARE ONLY ABOUT THEIR OWN HATE. SHE DOESN’T EVEN LOVE HER DAUGHTERS AND THEY WON’T BE HER FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK.
October 18th, 2008 at 6:52 am
OBAMA IS INDEED A MUSLIM SO AM I AND WERE PROUDE OF IT OBAMA WILL BRING HOPE PEACE AND CHANGE THREW OUT THE U.S.A AND THE WORLD THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING A MUSLIM AND THERES NO NEED TO FEAR. IN U.K A CHRISTIAN M.P BY THE NAME OF GEORGE GALLAWY WHO IS LOVED BY MUSLIMS AND MUSLIMS ALWAY SEEN HIM AS A HERO OF U.K WHO STANDS UP FOR POOR AND WEAK WORLD WIDE THERES IS SOMETHING POSTIVE IN THIS
October 18th, 2008 at 7:10 am
WE LOVE OBAMA
EVERBADY LOVES BARAK HUSSIAN OBAMA