Obama has been quick to reassure white America, the Jewish lobby, and Israel, among others, that he is definitely not a Muslim.
Being a Muslim is not cool in post-911 America. Muslims are terrorists. And who wants to be associated with terrorists?
Not Obama.
Oprah's presidential candidate explains it so:
"My father never practiced; he was basically agnostic. So, other than my name and the fact that I lived in a populous Muslim country for four years when I was a child, I have very little connection to the Islamic religion."
Interesting hey. His grandmother in Kenya is still alive, and she is a Muslim. So are all of his relatives on that side of his racial divide.
But they are kinda locked away for Obama and the American mindset, being the African peasants that they are.
But do stay tuned. The plot is gonna get even more twisted.
Sometime after the Ohio and Texas primaries Obama will confess that he is barely Black to alay the fears of the majority of concerned whites.
This man is a joke and an insult to the real politics of change!
Well meaning, but decidedly deluded progressives, should stop ignoring the fact that this beige fool supports Israel's brutal oppression of Palestine.
See for discussion Obama's Israel Bond by Joshua Frank.
Hat tip to AngryIndian for leading me to the Haaretz.com report and to Bahaus Photo Gallery for the Obama caricature.
Onward!
9 comments:
I, too, have been annoyed and appalled at his adamant denial of Islam's presence in his life. I think his background is something that could really help him in this election if he actually acknowledged it and said "YES, part of my family is Muslim, YES, they live in rural Africa, and YES, they've had a positive impact on my life. Now deal with it!"
All this denial is such bullshit. It's sad to see someone who has so much influence and sway over young people completely packing away that part of his life. I would respect him a lot more if he not only acknowledged his heritage but was proud of it. Maybe he thinks this is what is required to be "electable." Sad, sad...
I can't agree with you any more Desiree.
It is as if he has bought into the need to suppress the Muslims who are part of his life.
Wikipedia has a long post on him, extensive by their standards, yet hardly a word of his relatives who live in Kenya.
Those people are sanitized. And he advances the racism that has them as symbols but in no way real.
This is my problem with Obama. He is a construction. What he sells as his story is a carefully selected patchwork for mainstream consumption.
Oprah's bookclub now has Oprah's candidate.
Where is the needed complexity?
Surely not in the nonsense that would have one beleive he is viable because he is the lesser of evils.
You be well there in London.
Are folks just giddy to have Harry home and safe from fighting for his country?
Geez.
Peace to you Desiree :0)
Ridwan
Mom kept asking me, isn't he a Muslim, why he's not now? I told her, its called freedom of choice..she not happy...lol. tsk, tsking all the way...
My colleague choice is Mccain, simply because she fear for Asia security and Mccain can deliver that security. As you know our govt is VERY PRO AMERICAN. She said.. black president is just not going to happen...
Now we have a single JI terrorist with a limp, escape running around in this small island and we have yet to find him...
Bahumbug!!
Gigi yours moms is right to be confused. A lot of folk are confused by Obama.
I know your Island is very pro-US. But McCain will be bad news in my opinion.
OK, so I will be looking to see where you go for your vacation.
Take lots of pictures. And have a great time!!
Be good sista. Thanks for looking in here.
Peace,
Ridwan
Hello, Ridwan, my friend.
I understand your doubts about Obama. And they are valid.
I think the Obama candidacy offers some good things for America, though. I'll probably write a blog about this, but the gist of it is this: the symbolic value of having a black man as President of the United States. That, in and of itself, would do much to marginalize American racists and take the racist arrow out of the Republican quiver.
Respectfully, as always,
Dade
Hey Dade it is good to hear from you.
We are looking forward to the returns tomorrow. Seems as if Hillary is on the ropes hey?
Your comment made me think about the president of PSU, Dan Bernstine.
He was put into office the day I started at PSU (1997).
Coming from DC I could not see the big deal about having a Black president at PSU.
7 years later he was nothing more than a joke for Black issues and the University remained firmly entrenched in its racist mindset.
Bernstine did not visit Black Studies for the first five years.
He avoided showing any relationship to Black students or faculty ... in fact faculty of color bemoaned his presidency all the time.
At the end of the day when he left, PSU remained institutionally racist as it ever was.
His identity as a Black man made no real contribution. He played the game and the game is decidedly white.
In the case of Obama he will be the Black man who helps Israel to kill more brown people.
He will stoke the racist fires ala Bush and company.
Iran will be a theater for war and for reasons that are very much Bush-like.
In these terms the world will suffer another racist administration in America, and its war on the bodies of Black and brown people.
Obama is a gamer like Bush.
He will play the game and it is a game that is in denial about the systemic nature of racism.
He will roll back the gains of the Civil Rights era.
Poor Black people will be made to look like victims of their 'internalized' racism.
See Bill Cosby for the currents of this movement, for example.
This will be more than just a bootstrap pathology.
Obama will give white people, upper class white people and rich others in particular, more reason to be disdainfull of the conditions of poor Black and brown people.
White folks will point to him to reject the notion that racism is the bloodstream of the system.
How can America be racist if the president is Black? Get ready to field that question if he wins, a big if in my mind, still.
I still believe that my politics is best suited to not voting, and I can vote in the US.
I learnt my lesson with Bill the first time.
I trust you are well my brother. And I appreciate your wisdom and input here.
I look forward to your post on Obama as president.
Be well.
Peace,
Ridwan
So my question to you is, since I am going to be a first time voter this election, who would you suggest I vote for?
PS- thanks for the email on the fam situation, it definitely helped.
Nicole
Hey Nicole. Good to hear from you. I trust you are doing well and excelling as usual.
That is a tough question you pose. I can only speak for myself Nicole.
I have chosen to withdraw my consent from the US political system in Clinton's first term.
I also left the US so as not to pay taxes to a state that is war with Black and brown bodies.
That part has been harder to do. But since 2005 I have only worked for one term in the US (Fall 2007).
I am not fronting that it is easy to know how to resist.
My brother Dade has a different view on voting than I do. You can see some of his comments here and at his blog.
There is merit in his approach.
I think you should think your options through.
I expect that you will think and feel your way to what is best in the circumstances.
Hey, so take a look at some of the comments under Apartheid University for a race discussion South African style.
Seems there is a little confusion about what is and is not racism here too.
Peace to you.
Ridwan
Hi, Ridwan.
You've made some very salient points in your response to my comment. I'll have to think on it a bit...
Thanks for the insight.
Dade
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