Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Poll: 45-52% Believe Obama Is A Muslim And GOP Elites Don't Get It

(ACN Editorial) According to a recently released poll by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling, 45% of likely GOP primary voters in Alabama believe that Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim.  41% of those polled were unsure and only 14% responded that they believe that Mr. Obama is a Christian. Similar results were obtained in Mississippi where 52% of respondents said they believe that Obama is a Muslim, while 36% claimed they were not sure and only 12% said they believe Obama is a Christian.

And if the reaction of The Washington Times' Catherine Poe is any barometer of what the elites within the GOP believe, the GOP establishment appears none too happy over the poll numbers and the fact that far too many pesky voters dare to hold opinions that are out-of-line with those dictated from on high by our tight-knit circle of rulers among the political elite.

Poe writes that "such downright ignorance is frightening" and calls the belief among Alabama and Mississippi GOP voters "appalling." Then, after taking a back-handed stab at Rush Limbaugh, she asks: "Is there any hope for a country when its electorate is so ill informed?"

Insulting? Yes. But the question that Ms. Poe and the conservative elites need to be asking is: Is there any hope for a country when the political elites are so out of touch? 

Why shouldn't voters in Alabama and Mississippi (and across the nation for that matter) question Mr. Obama's beliefs?  Did he not bow before a Saudi prince?  Did he not say that American is "no longer a Christian nation"?  Has he not exhibited open hostility toward the beliefs of those who "cling to guns or religion"? 

Did he not say that he would stand with Muslims?  Did he not call the Islamic call to prayer one of the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard? Has he not exhibited mind-bending foreign-policy weakness when it comes to our war against radical Islam? Do we need go on?

As I read Poe's screed, I was reminded of a casual question I once posed to a dear friend, who is Muslim, a renowned international attorney who has argued before The Hague, and is probably one of the world's leading legal experts on Sharia law. 

Years ago, over lunch, knowing he had knowledge of the controversy in the United States surrounding Mr. Obama's religious beliefs, I asked him: "Do you believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim?" 

A look of utter shock and astonishment appeared across his face.  "Why would you not believe he is a Muslim," he asked. "Of course he's a Muslim."

Of course, my friend's view is colored by the fact that he is a Muslim, and Muslims believe that ones religion is determined by birth, not by "free will" as those of us who practice the Christian faith believe. 

Admittedly the belief, that in order to be considered a Christian, one must actually affirm a belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died on the cross and rose from the dead to wash away our sins, is an affirmation that makes Christianity unique.

And as far as my friend was concerned, since Obama's father was a Muslim, Obama is a Muslim, case closed.  As far as most of the people in the rest of the world are concerned, Mr. Obama is a Muslim.

Of course, my personal view on the question is more in line with the 41%-36% of Alabama and Mississippi respondents who said they were not sure.  If Mr. Obama is a Muslim, he most certainly is not a "good Muslim," at least not by Muslim standards.

That being said, one thing is certain in my mind.  Barack Obama is no Christian.  The topic is not open for debate.  His actions, his associations and his outward hostility, as a matter of policy, toward Christianity leaves no other conclusion open to me.

However, Obama's actual religious beliefs do not concern me as much as the elitist attitude that is all too common with some of our self-proclaimed Republican leaders and media figures. 

Prior to the 2008 election, my spouse bumped into a high-ranking volunteer in the McCain campaign at CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference) and struck up a casual and friendly conversation.

The conversation took a turn toward the hostile when she told the man that she was an Evangelical Christian.  As she recounts the story, the man scowled at her and said; "Well, we don't need you people."

Hopefully, in retrospect, that gentleman now understands that McCain did, in fact, need people like us and moreover, while I have no stats or data to support the contention, I suspect that the vast majority of people who actually held their noses and voted for Senator McCain in 2008, were people like us and that the "independent thinkers" that the McCain campaign pursued like an intoxicated college freshman on the prowl at a fraternity party, wound up voting for Mr. Obama anyway.

I actually subjected myself to "Game Change," the fictionalized and absurd Sarah Palin hit-piece that recently ran on HBO. While I take everything that flashed across my television screen that night with a huge grain of salt, one scene toward the end of the movie really hit home. 

As Ed Harris (who played McCain) worked the crowds approaching election day, people at the rallies shouted things like; "Obama is a socialist," "Obama is a Muslim," "Where's Obama's Birth Certificate?" and at each utterance, a look of sheer disgust and distain flashed across Harris' face. 

If Harris' portrayal of McCain's disgust is close to accurate in those instances, those scenes, more than anything else, might explain exactly why McCain lost.

And if Poe's screed is any barometer, when it comes to putting ones finger on what the elites within the GOP actually believe, then it is clear that they still don’t get it and Republicans may actually lose an election against a failed president that should be far too easy to win.
Posted By: Chris Carmouche