As the presidential election nears, Obama is going through the usual gyrations, twists and turns necessary to please as many voters as possible. In other words, with every passing day, he looks more and more like the off-the-shelf slimy politician that he claimed he is not. So, the candidate who claims to prefer diplomacy over conflict is suddenly ready to go "Nukular" against Iran on Israel's behest. More disturbing, is his response to Muslim-by-association campaign mounted by xenophobic, fear-mongering right wing opponents. Instead of facing the prejudice head on, he is in fact succumbing to it. To those who raise the question of his faith ad nauseaum, he could choose to tell them that the question is irrelevant. Instead, he dutifully repeats, that he is a church going Christian. Moreover, in our instant YouTube world, his campaign obsessively blocks any image or word that "taints" him with anything Muslim. To this end, they removed from camera range, two veiled supporters who were invited to his rally in Detroit and disinvited a Muslim congressman from attending another. And somehow, whereas right wing televisions commentators never forget to mention Obama's middle name, usually pronounced slowly and deliberately for emphasis, you will not see the name Hussein mentioned anywhere on Obama's own website.
It is refreshing then to see young Obama supports, not tied down by the older generation's built-in biases, informally adopting Hussein as their middle name as way of making an important point. It may seem gimmicky, but given the negative gut reaction the name engenders in a -not insignificant- portion of the American electorate, it is a bold and important point to make, one that should have been made by the candidate himself.
It is refreshing then to see young Obama supports, not tied down by the older generation's built-in biases, informally adopting Hussein as their middle name as way of making an important point. It may seem gimmicky, but given the negative gut reaction the name engenders in a -not insignificant- portion of the American electorate, it is a bold and important point to make, one that should have been made by the candidate himself.
1 comment:
Brilliant campaign by these kids! I understand that Obama stands to lose if he's linked to Islam, given the ignorance of the over-riding majority of the voting public in the country, but he could state he is Christian while still reminding people that Islam is a religion just like any other.
I can never get over how blatantly dirty politics gets every time an election rolls around (and in the years in between, actually).
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