October 20, 2008

Not lost in Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama were the former secretary of state’s remarks about Muslim Americans.

“I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, ‘Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.’ Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian.  He’s always been a Christian.  But the really right answer is, what if he is?  Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America.  Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?  Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, ‘He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.’ This is not the way we should be doing it in America.”

“I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine,” Powell continued. “It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.  And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave.  And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone.  And it gave his awards—Purple Heart, Bronze Star—showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death.  He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith.  And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey.  He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life.”

This comment, which was commended by the Muslim Public Affairs Council, left me feeling a little guilty. I worry that in the media, when we have reported that Obama is not a Muslim and have referred to the whisper campaign against him as a “smear” that we have indirectly established a new rule in American society that being Muslim is unacceptable. (Glenn Greenwald has a good piece about the creation of this slur, which has never been my intention.)

Sadly, Powell’s comment about a Muslim-American kid dreaming of being president doesn’t have much hope right now. When it comes to presidential politics, Muslims are almost as unpopular as atheists.

Joe the Plumber is, as I’m sure you know by now, not a plumber. But he is a Christian. The God-O-Meter enlightens us on how Joe’s faith relates to his perspective of, say, the war in Iraq:

“Everything that Americans take for granted, I mean these guys haven’t had it—now they’ve got it. That’s an incredible thing. I don’t know if you guys are Christians or not, but that’s like someone coming to Jesus and being saved. These guys have freedom.”

No question Iraqis have a different life now than they did before Saddam was deposed. But let’s be clear about two things: I’m not sure any Iraqis, even those who have had the chance to vote and only now feel safe being in public for the first time in five years, are enjoying “everything that Americans take for granted”; and, more to the point, even if they were enjoying every possible freedom a human begin could, Christianity teaches us that such a life still would pale in comparison to the fullness of life in Christ.

Sorry, Joe. Whether we agree or disagree about the value of fighting in Iraq—though, I think we disagree—it can’t be compared to “someone coming to Jesus and being saved.” I love America, but her values, after all, are not my god.

… was, of course, the debate I moderated Thursday night at USC Chabad. On the left was political strategist Randy Steinberg and on the right Republican Jewish blogger Eric Golub. The forum—similar to one I moderated at Temple Sinai in August between the RJC’s Larry Greenfield and Barack Obama surrogate Rep. Adam Schiff (that was before the Obama campaign’s RJC ban)—in that it evaluated the candidates from a Jewish perspective. Coincidentally, my cover story for this week’s Jewish Journal, which was published the morning before the debate, focused on the same topic.

Golub, who blogged the debate here, gave the two best comments of the night.

When Steinberg took issue with Republican smear attacks against Obama, like those mentioning his scary middle name (it’s Hussein), Golub responded:

“I never mention Barack Obama’s name. People who do disgust me. It’s bigotry and it’s disgusting. I call him BHMO—Barack Hannah Montana Obama. He’s really sweet. He’s just an adorable cherub that is not up for the job.”

From adorable cherubim to small-man tyrants, Golub had this to say about the Iranian president:

“Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a terrible man. He should be taken out on site and shot on Fox News.”

This video, from the American News Project, shows an Islamophobe attacking Muslim supporters of John McCain:

At a John McCain rally in Woodbridge, Virginia, three people handed out “Obama for Change” bumper stickers with the Communist sickle and hammer and the Islamic crescent, saying Obama was a socialist with ties to radical Islam. Several moderate McCain supporters, Muslim and Christian alike, struck back – relentlessly bombarding the group distributing the flyers until they left the premises.

This video is certainly offensive. But it is more limited in its scope—because it’s only one hater—from the Ohio voters who called Barack Obama a terrorist and the n-word.

Steve Garfield says that after Rick Sanchez aired this video on CNN, the McCain campaign forbid staff David Zuberi from speaking with him.