Obama Muslim? The Obama Muslim Connection

    When examining the Obama Muslim connection, perhaps it is most important to remember that it is not always the assertion that damns an individual; but rather, the cover-up.

Initially, on November 12, 2007, the Obama campaign issued a stern and unequivocal denial which can still be found on Obama's "Fight The Smears" website:

"Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised as a Muslim, and is a committed Christian. Further, this myth perpetuates unfortunate falsehoods about the Muslim-American community that are offensive to people of all faiths."

Never say never. Two months later the "Obama-Muslim" denial started to unravel. Insight Magazine published a story claiming that Obama, as a youth, had studied for four years in an Indonesian Madrassa.  The story was largely based on a "tip" from the Clinton campaign and the article implied that the Madrassa in question was a radical Wahabist institution.

Of course, the implication turned out to be somewhat exaggerated.  Snopes.com immediately jumped to Obama's defense and called the story "far-fetched:"

"The large Indonesian community resident in Mecca was a medium through which knowledge about Wahhabism reached Indonesia, but the community itself appears to have remained virtually immune to Wahhabi influences."

But Obama was backed into a corner and the Obama Muslim connection was out in the open.  While the Insight article may (or may not) have been "far-fetched," it was clear that Obama's statement that he was "never" a Muslim was not accurate. The Obama campaign immediately issued a "clarification" and said that Obama has never been a practicing Muslim. [Emphasis Ours].

But the tap-dancing started long before Insight published the allegation.  Daniel Pipes writes:

"Then, on Dec. 22, in the unlikely setting of the Smoky Row Coffee Shop in Oskaloosa, Iowa, as he munched on pumpkin pie and drank tea with four locals, Obama provided more detail took on this topic than before. When asked to explain his Muslim heritage, he replied: 'My father was from Kenya, and a lot of people in his village were Muslim. He didn't practice Islam. Truth is he wasn't very religious. He met my mother. My mother was a Christian from Kansas, and they married and then divorced. I was raised by my mother. So, I've always been a Christian. The only connection I've had to Islam is that my grandfather on my father's side came from that country. But I've never practiced Islam. … For a while, I lived in Indonesia because my mother was teaching there. And that's a Muslim country. And I went to school. But I didn't practice. But what I do think it does is it gives me insight into how these folks think, and part of how I think we can create a better relationship with the Middle East and that would help make us safer is if we can understand how they think about issues.'"

But others have a different view of the Obama-Muslim connection.  Obama's half-brother, Malik Obama, in an interview with Israeli Radio stated that Obama "could be a good President for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background."

Haroon Siddiqui, a reporter with the Toronto Star, paid a visit to Obama's Indonesian school and claimed that at least "three of his [Obama's] teachers have said he was enrolled as a Muslim."

One of Obama's childhood friends, Zulfin Adi says that Obama "was Muslim. He went to the Mosque. I remember him wearing a sarong."

Obama's own sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng says, "my whole family was Muslim."

And Obama himself once described the Muslim call to prayer as "one of the prettiest sounds on earth at sunset."

"Never been a practicing Muslim"... "Was not raised as a Muslim"? Obviously, the statements are false. 

Of course, some will ask why should it all matter?  The answer, of course, is obvious, it all goes back to the issues of character and trustworthiness.

If Obama is willing to "nuance" his own heritage... his own upbringing... can we really trust anything he says?

Floyd Brown, in his novel, Obama Unmasked, puts the episode in perspective: " [B]y adding the word "practicing" Obama climbed onto the slippery slope of modern politics, calling into question the truthfulness of everything he says... causing people to wonder if Obama is truly the fresh voice of 'new politics' he claims to be."