Obama has no Muslim problem

In light of two Obama volunteers avoiding hijab- wearing girls in Detroit, I hear repeatedly the famous line from Seinfeld and questioning why Barack doesn’t say “not that there’s anything wrong with it.” Those people haven’t paid attention to Obama’s speeches. Admittedly, his dealing with rumors in a calm, respectable way isn’t cable newsworthy and got little play. But when you attack, know your facts.

In Boston, Massachusetts, I heard Sen. Barack Obama defend Islam and Muslims-and personally thanked him for his comments. He opened the topic of the insidious rumors falsely questioning his faith by first stating they were an insult to Islam and to Muslims. He stated that they were not just insulting and disrespectful of a religion, but a people. It was a clear defense of Islam. In Columbia, South Carolina, he also defended Islam in my presence at his South Carolina primary eve rally. On CNN’s Compassion Forum, he also spoke clearly about Islam.

The choice in November can’t be clearer for Muslim women. Obama’s speech in Albuquerque, New Mexico to working women reaffirmed his feminist credentials. He also values civil liberties as a constitutional law scholar, peace, and ending the inhumanity at Guantánamo Bay. Such resonate with both Muslim men and women.

I can’t agree with the girls in Detroit’s decisions to go to the media. Harming Barack — someone they support — doesn’t help the Muslim American community or its interests. I’d rather see Guantánamo’s prison closed then have token symbols of Islam visible in campaigns.

As someone who has been to dozens of Obama events, I’ve come to realize that the numerous volunteers working in any capacity are not handheld. They are supervised by staff, but especially at the now-huge scale of Barack’s national events since South Carolina, there is scope for volunteers to do as they wish.

In canvassing, they could violate the law and stuff mailbox with literature (their candidate’s or opponents). In phone banking, especially from home, they can say he anything to their recipients. A volunteers own personal agenda, or what they thought was good judgment but wasn’t, as illustrated here but also when a Clinton volunteer in Iowa forwarded the rumor — laced e-mails. Giving grassroots volunteers such trust represents the Obama campaign’s “new politics.” He has a million volunteers, there was trouble with two.

Furthermore, thousands of people attend his televised rallies. No one has a right to stand behind him on stage. These girls’ friends were asked and they asked if they could also.

How many hijab-clad women surrounded McCain? The Muslim community’s decision to go for Bush in 2000 and 2004 was disastrous. Let’s not saddle ourselves into another administration… unless the term ‘Islamofascism’ sounded good to you the first time around, and you want your leader ignorant of the differences between Shias and Sunnis.

Obama’s story reads very much like many American Muslims’ stories. Many of us are first, second, and third generation immigrants and we are still outsiders in America. Obama is the son of an immigrant and very much follows the similar trajectory of eking out a comfortable identity in America like many immigrants, people of color, and/or Muslims do. Let us benefit from someone with those experiences.

If numerous op-eds should be penned about the rumors about Obama’s faith, let them consider stopping being Muslim a “smear.” Obama is reaffirming his Christian faith more aggressively than Muslims would like; however, consider that the rumors about his faith were bundled with attacks on his patriotism. Saying he is Muslim wasn’t damaging as in itself, but combined with lies about disrespecting the flag and such successfully drew fear in many American voters.

We should be most concerned about the ease with which unpatriotic is superimposed upon Muslims, and how both attacks function as a guise for racism against Obama.