by Damozel | While it's true that a certain segment of the population is hysterical about Muslims, that segment of the population isn't likely to vote for the Democrat in the next campaign and probably ought to be ignored. Anyway, this is not the right way to handle it. At least the campaign immediately apologized.
[B]oth [women were] Obama supporters who said they felt betrayed by their treatment at the rally.
“This is of course not the policy of the campaign. It is offensive and counter to Obama’s commitment to bring Americans together and simply not the kind of campaign we run,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. “We sincerely apologize for the behavior of these volunteers.” (The Politico)
This embarrassment was apparently the work of some of Obama's very volunteers. Not much of an excuse, that; as Sarah Wheaton writes at The Caucus, '[G]iven that Michigan is a center of Arab-American culture, it is unlikely that potential turnout by this group did not occur to Mr. Obama’s advance staff.'
We're Democrats. That's the opposite of the way we are supposed to behave. As Marc Ambinder says, '[T]his mistake by an Obama volunteer is as egregious as anything McCain's advance team has ever done.'
We all get that the issue is tricky for Obama. As Ambinder further observes,
Sadly, being Muslim in America carries undue baggage after 9/11; for months, the Obama campaign has tiptoed along the tightrope of denying that he's a Muslim while making sure that Muslims know that he thinks it's OK to be one of them. (Kind of like folks who have to deny that they're gay but don't want people to confuse their denials with anti-gay prejudice.) (The Atlantic)
Anyone who thinks the Obama-is-secretly-a-Muslim-with-terrorist connections isn't one that's going to be used and abused by the right --- i.e., anyone who has been living under a rock --- should consider the big ol' kerfuffle over the appearance and drape of a certain fringed scarf worn by Rachel Ray in a Dunkin' Donuts ad (HuffPost).
The Malkin screamed and clutched her pearls --- was Ray wearing 'the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad'? ---and the crazy/terrified segment of the American political spectrum that cares what Michelle Malkin says strove to match her in hysteria and antic panic. The reason didn't seem to be that anyone marginally sane really believed that Ray is a terrorist; the objection was to her appearing in clothes that incidentally resemble garments they associate with terrorists.
But...but...My 70-something mother-in-law wore a similar scarf when I was in England, and she's the very model of English country gentry! Never mind, I'll let her know tomorrow that she shouldn't help 'mainstream' terrorism through her wardrobe choices.
Anyway, the ad ended up being pulled.(HuffPost)
So Obama's campaign is going to have to keep dealing with this. How did it happen that they decided to do it by excluding Muslims from the photograph? It's easy to scapegoat the volunteers. Again I'll quote Marc Ambinder: '[T]here's a consequence to being too sensitive; not only do your volunteers pick up on the vibes, they take it upon themselves to "protect" Obama, and in doing so, inevitably raise the very issue that they seek to avoid.'
Smith's account indicates one volunteer tried to do it 'tactfully' if disingenuously, suggesting that the reason was that no one was being allowed to wear hats or scarves in the photo. The other just explained point-blank to two young Muslim men she'd invited to appear in the photo that their headscarf-wearing female friend couldn't appear with them because it wouldn't be good for her to be associated with Obama, citing 'the political climate and what’s going on in the world and what’s going on with Muslim Americans.' (The Politico)
“I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. Are you serious?’” Koussan [one of the two young men] recalled. (The Politico)
In other words: while Muslims could be included in the photo, they could only be included if they didn't look like Michelle Malkin's idea of a terrorist. Way to take a stand against ethnic stereotyping.
It's stupid to blame Obama for this and it's clearly more down to ignorance and a basic lack of political acumen on the part of the volunteers. But somebody, somewhere clearly dropped the ball. So the campaign most definitely deserves the moral drubbing that's currently being administered by their own.
As for right-wingers, they need to shut up. After the Rachel Ray thing, anything they could possibly think to say would just be self-parody. But of course they haven't, and won't. Enjoy their egregious nonsense here.
One of the Muslim women is demanding that Obama apologize to her. Yes, he should do that. A person who insults another unintentionally should always apologize. If he does, or if he reaches out to the Muslim community, the right wingers will claim that he's secretly organizing a Muslim coup.
In the meantime, they're ready to defend even Barack Obama from the demands of an admitted Muslim. Here's LGFB: ' A campaign official apologized to them when it became a news story. But that’s not good enough; they won’t be happy until they’ve made a presidential candidate grovel.'
To apologize for humiliating someone is, of course, not at all the same as grovelling.
Anyway who cares what the right wing bloggers say? They're not going to vote for Obama anyway.
Let's hope that the Obama campaign quickly works out a strategy for dealing with the Muslim issue --- a hateful phrase in itself. This sort of thing is unacceptable.
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