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Obama's middle name raises Muslim 'worries'
Forget the issues, forget the personalities, forget everything about US politics. The most important question about the 2008 election may be this: Can a man named Barack Hussain Obama be elected president?
- By Jonathan Mann, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 00:15 June 29, 2008
Atlanta: Forget the issues, forget the personalities, forget everything about US politics. The most important question about the 2008 election may be this:
Can a man named Barack Hussain Obama be elected president?
From his very start on the national stage, Obama has warmed up his audiences with jokes about his "big ears" and "funny name". So far, his ears aren't a problem. But in part because of his middle name, he is dogged by the apparently unstoppable rumour that he is a Muslim.
Close to the start of his campaign, his spokesman issued a statement that "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised as a Muslim, And is a committed Christian." His long-time pastor even became a newsmaker in his own right, reminding the US that Obama is a regular Church-goer.
Still, more than a year later, a poll found that one in ten Americans believe he is Muslim. The number is nearly one in five in rural areas. That's more than enough people to swing an election.
The Obama campaign has created a special team to fight rumours like the one about his religion. He goes out of his way to deny it in speeches. His supporters do too. There is a website devoted to it, called FightTheSmears.Com.
But what about the underlying premise: why should his being a Muslim matter? Why is it a "smear"?
Tony Kutalyi of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee says: "He needs to come out and not just simply say I'm not a Muslim, but again, if I were a Muslim, what difference would it make?"
The Obama campaign is embarrassed to admit that one of its volunteers in Detroit kept two Muslim women (http://abc-news.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=5211843) from appearing near Obama, where media cameras could see them, after they refused to remove their headscarves. Obama personally called the women to apologise.
His predicament is clear. Every president the US has ever elected has been White and Christian. Obama is an African-American, trying to make history in a country that is still grappling with racism. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001 set off a war on terror against Muslim extremists, the US has been grappling with its feelings about Islam as well.
Barack Obama doesn't often use his middle name, but he can't seem to escape it.
Jonathan Mann is a reporter and anchor for CNN International
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