Posted by
Patrick Henry on Friday, August 20, 2010 6:30:46 PM
Shocking new polls reveal that 1 in 5 Americans believe President Barack Obama
to be a Muslim. The mainstream media responded unanimously by mocking their
stupidity, and the White House, which claims not to read polls (ha, ha) almost
immediately issued a disclaimer stating that Obama is a committed Christian, prays
daily, and giving the sources from which he receives his daily devotional reading.
So what gives? Now there are certainly a lot of crackpots out there who will
believe any gossip and spread any rumor. But 1 in 5 boggles the mind. One can
follow the mainstream media herd in pronouncing 20% of the population deranged.
But that's almost as big a reach as calling Obama a Muslim. Maybe it's a bit more
complex than that.
Considering that in the eyes of the rumor mongers Lincoln was a Catholic (untrue),
and FDR was Jew (also untrue), perhaps it should not come as such a great shock
that some believe Obama is a Muslim. It would come as a shock, however, to a
majority in the Islamic countries who profess great disappointment in him. A Muslim
prays five times daily, facing Mecca, gives alms to the poor and attends mosque
regularly. Obama does none of those things. So, if he is a Muslim, he is a very poor
one. Why, then, the big number of the deluded?
Obama is perceived to be a Muslim sympathizer. His speeches in Cairo and Turkey
in which he uttered in nearly unaccented Arabic the opening line of a famous Islamic
prayer, his statement that Islam's sunset call to prayer is "the prettiest sound in the
world," his embracing of his Muslim heritage and disavowal of America as a Christian
nation, his bow toward Saudi royalty and his ambivalence toward the building of a
mosque at ground zero in New York, accompanied by a passage in his book that
boasts "I will stand with Muslims," all contribute to an impression. That impression
is further enhanced by the furor over NASA's mission being changed, by direct
instruction of the president, to one of outreach to Muslims, and Obama's own
frequent praise of Islamic culture. The American public is, if nothing else, very
impressionable, and the 24/7 news cycle and media bombardment only amplifies
the tendency.
A great many Americans now believe Obama to be an inveterate prevaricator.
His statements about the healthcare reform bill alone that (a) healthcare costs
would decline (b) the bill would not add to the deficit, (c) Medicare recipients
would not lose benefits and (d) no one would have to change their coverage or
physician have now been proven inarguably false. Thus, his affirmations that
he is in fact a Christian or, conversely, that he is not a Muslim, have less force
because a large portion of America no longer trusts him to speak the truth. Beyond
that, most believe he willfully employs deception to advance his political agenda.
Add to all that his attempts to close Guantanamo Bay, where Muslim killers
are being detained, his attempts to politicize and bring into civilian court the trial
of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his attempts to hamstring
American intelligence capacities and what many Americans see is a man who
is soft on national security, lax in his treatment of jihadists and one whose bent
is to pander to a hostile Muslim world. Is all of this enough to convince 1 in 5?
Apparently so.
America, on the whole, does not understand Islam. To them, the mosque
worshippers and those who scream allah akbar (god is great) just before blowing
themselves up along with anyone else who happens to be around, or opening
fire on a roomful of innocent people (Ft. Hood) are not all that different one from
another. Islam is not simply a religion. It is a socio-cultural movement that
unabashedly aspires to a worldwide caliphate (world domination) under shariah law,
and often counsels and employs violence toward infidels (non-Muslims). Western
Muslims who seek to co-exist peacefully are the liberalized ones whose lifestyle
meets with near universal disapproval in Muslim countries such as Saudi and
Indonesia. If even Muslims are unable to separate the "religion" from the socio-
poitical agenda, how can it come as a suprise that many Americans can't either?
We cannot always control what others believe about us, even when we know
what that perception is and are pained by it. Most of us, however, understand
that we do bear some responsibility for keeping our words and actions consistent,
and making reasonable attempts to explain choices we make that could be
open to misinterpretation. In private life, many of us do not care what people we
don't know personally think about us. Unfortunately, those who present themselves
for elected office do not enjoy such a luxury. All Americans, including presidents,
should be free to practice the religion of their choice in reasonable privacy. But
when we speak out about it selectively, and often ambiguously, we must share the
consequences of misunderstanding. That is a hard lesson which this president, who
is almost certainly not a Muslim, seems to be learning late in life.