Muslim fiction puts Obama in no-win fight
Protesting this lie too much could make him look like bigot
October 14, 2008
BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist
They say a lie can't live forever. What they don't say is how much damage a lie can do before it is put to rest.
With respect to the lie that Barack Obama is a Muslim, the damage has been immeasurable for the Muslim community.
Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell
"The Muslim community across America has long been saying that the Bush government has made the war on terror a war against Islam and Muslim," said Aminah McCloud, professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at DePaul University and director of the Islamic World Studies program.
"Though denying that, they have supported the rhetoric that makes being Muslim the worst thing one can be," she said.
"Because the country has made a 15th century old religion and civilization taboo, Barack Obama supporters can't even come to the Muslim citizens to get support," McCloud noted.
"And the Muslim citizens cannot go out and campaign for him like they would campaign for anybody else. I am just a little bit embarrassed that a country that was really a beacon of religious power has now gone back to the dark ages of the Crusades."
The lie has forced the Obama campaign to confront it as a smear, which makes his defense about as bad as the offense against him.
An exchange between John McCain and a silver-haired supporter last Friday during a town hall meeting proves McCloud's point.
An indecent implication
"I'm scared. I have read about him, and he is an Arab," the elderly woman said.
To his credit, McCain forcefully shook his head no. He went on to tell the woman that Obama is a "decent man" with a "good family."
But it may be too late for McCain to distance himself from the monster that his campaign has nourished.
Ironically, Obama was vilified by conservative pundits for his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a Christian theologian. Still, Obama's opponents have been able to convince some white voters that he is a Muslim.
"I would think it is odd that if you have a person who is baptized in a church and has children who are baptized in a church, for white people to decide that person is not Christian," McCloud said.
"Fortunately, there are an equivalent of Christians and Jews who have said no to that effort."
Most of us like to think of America as a tolerant society, but the lie against Obama took root because ordinary Americans know very little about Islam and Muslims.
And the rhetoric about terrorists and Muslims in the national debate may have stirred up anti-Muslim sentiments.
Two weeks ago, a Muslim student at Elmhurst College was attacked on the school's grounds, leading hundreds of students on the campus to later rally around the victim.
When you consider that America really is a cultural melting pot, it makes it all the more absurd that three weeks before the election, political operatives are still engaging in blatant fear-mongering.
But there is a bright side to all of this.
National polls showing that Obama is leading McCain nationally is an indication that a lot more people believe the truth than those who believe the lie.
Just when you thought it was over ...
So, it makes sense that vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin is now trying to convince voters that Obama pals around with terrorists -- another tall tale.
Coincidentally, it is Palin who has been caught fibbing since a report released by a bipartisan commission last weekend makes it clear that she wasn't being truthful about her actions regarding her former brother-in-law.
The commission found the governor abused her power when she tried to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper for personal reasons.
Palin, who has billed herself as a born-again, tongue-talking Christian, a reformer and a maverick, violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act when she put pressure on a former public safety commissioner to fire her ex-brother-in-law, who was going through a nasty divorce with Palin's sister.
Heck, maybe someone ought to be asking whether this woman is really a Christian.
Unfortunately, despite the evidence, some would rather believe the lie from Palin than the truth about Obama.
