The Emergence of President Obama's Muslim Roots

ABC News' Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report: The other day we heard a comment from a White House aide that never would have been uttered during the primaries or general election campaign.

During a conference call in preparation for President Obama's trip to Cairo, Egypt, where he will address the Muslim world, deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Denis McDonough said "the President himself experienced Islam on three continents before he was able to -- or before he's been able to visit, really, the heart of the Islamic world -- you know, growing up in Indonesia, having a Muslim father -- obviously Muslim Americans (are) a key part of Illinois and Chicago."

Given widespread unease and prejudice against Muslims among Americans, especially in the wake of 9/11, the Obama campaign was perhaps understandably very sensitive during the primaries and general election to downplay the candidate's Muslim roots.

With insane rumors suggesting he was some sort of Muslim Manchurian candidate, then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and his campaign did everything they could to emphasize his Christianity and de-emphasize the fact that his father, Barack Obama Sr., was born Muslim.

The candidate's comment at a Boca Raton, Florida, town hall meeting on May 22, 2008, was typical: "My father was basically agnostic, as far as I can tell, and I didn't know him," he said.

In September 2008, candidate Obama told a Pennsylvania crowd, "I know that I'm not your typical presidential candidate and I just want to be honest with you. I know that the temptation is to say, 'You know what? The guy hasn't been there that long in Washington. You know, he's got a funny name. You know, we're not sure about him.' And that's what the Republicans when they say this isn't about issues, it's about personalities, what they're really saying is, 'We're going to try to scare people about Barack. So we're going to say that, you know, maybe he's got Muslim connections.'...Just making stuff up."

"Barack Obama is a committed Christian. He was sworn into the Senate on his family Bible. He has regularly attended church with his wife and daughters for years. But shameful, shadowy attackers have been lying about Barack’s religion, claiming he is a Muslim instead of a committed Christian. When people fabricate stories about someone’s faith to denigrate them politically, that’s an attack on people of all faiths. Make sure everyone you know is aware of this deception."

The website also provided quotes from the Boston Globe and Newsweek mentioning his father's roots.

Since the election, however, with the threat of the rumors at least somewhat abated, the White House has been increasingly forthcoming about the president's roots. Especially when reaching out to the
Muslim world.

In his April 6 address to the Turkish Parliament, President Obama referenced how many "Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim majority country. I know, because I am one of them."

“...I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama was heavily financed by Islam....his presidency further opens the door to America for them.” ~ STONEWALLS

Barack Obama through Muslim Eyes
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.aspx?GUID=5A3ACA47-5212-4FEC-8DE7-4D3938F92950
By Daniel Pipes FrontPageMagazine.com | 8/25/2008

How do Muslims see Barack Hussein Obama? They have three choices: either as he presents himself – someone who has “never been a Muslim” and has “always been a Christian”; or as a fellow Muslim; or as an apostate from Islam.

Reports suggests that while Americans generally view the Democratic candidate having had no religion before converting at Reverend Jeremiah Wrights’s hands at age 27, Muslims the world over rarely see him as Christian but usually as either Muslim or ex-Muslim.

Lee Smith of the Hudson Institute explains why: “Barack Obama’s father was Muslim and therefore, according to Islamic law, so is the candidate. In spite of the Quranic verses explaining that there is no compulsion in religion, a Muslim child takes the religion of his or her father. … for Muslims around the world, non-American Muslims at any rate, they can only ever see Barack Hussein Obama as a Muslim.” In addition, his school record from Indonesia lists him as a Muslim

Thus, an Egyptian newspaper, Al-Masri al-Youm, refers to his “Muslim origins.” Libyan ruler Mu‘ammar al-Qaddafi referred to Obama as “a Muslim” and a person with an “African and Islamic identity.” One Al-Jazeera analysis calls him a “non-Christian man,” a second refers to his “Muslim Kenyan” father, and a third, by Naseem Jamali, notes that “Obama may not want to be counted as a Muslim but Muslims are eager to count him as one of their own.”

A conversation in Beirut, quoted in the Christian Science Monitor, captures the puzzlement. “He has to be good for Arabs because he is a Muslim,” observed a grocer. “He’s not a Muslim, he’s a Christian,” replied a customer. Retorted the grocer: “He can’t be a Christian. His middle name is Hussein.” Arabic discussions of Obama sometimes mention his middle name as a code, with no further comment needed.

“The symbolism of a major American presidential candidate with the middle name of Hussein, who went to elementary school in Indonesia,” reports Tamara Cofman Wittes of the Brookings Institution from a U.S.-Muslim conference in Qatar, “that certainly speaks to Muslims abroad.” Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times found that Egyptians “don’t really understand Obama’s family tree, but what they do know is that if America despite being attacked by Muslim militants on 9/11 were to elect as its president some guy with the middle name ‘Hussein,’ it would mark a sea change in America-Muslim world relations.”

Some American Muslim leaders also perceive Obama as Muslim. The president of the Islamic Society of North America, Sayyid M. Syeed, told Muslims at a conference in Houston that whether Obama wins or loses, his candidacy will reinforce that Muslim children can “become the presidents of this country.” The Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan called Obama “the hope of the entire world” and compared him to his religion’s founder, Fard Muhammad.

But this excitement also has a dark side – suspicions that Obama is a traitor to his birth religion, an apostate (murtadd) from Islam. Al-Qaeda has prominently featured Obama’s stating “I am not a Muslim” and one analyst, Shireen K. Burki of the University of Mary Washington, sees Obama as “bin Laden’s dream candidate.” Should he become U.S. commander in chief, she believes, Al-Qaeda would likely “exploit his background to argue that an apostate is leading the global war on terror … to galvanize sympathizers into action.”

Mainstream Muslims tend to tiptoe around this topic. An Egyptian supporter of Obama, Yasser Khalil, reports that many Muslims react “with bewilderment and curiosity” when Obama is described as a Muslim apostate; Josie Delap and Robert Lane Greene of the Economist even claim that the Obama-as-apostate theme “has been notably absent” among Arabic-language columnists and editorialists.

That latter claim is inaccurate, for the topic is indeed discussed. At least one Arabic-language newspaper published Burki’s article. Kuwait’s Al-Watan referred to Obama as “a born Muslim, an apostate, a convert to Christianity.” Writing in the Arab Times, Syrian liberal Nidal Na‘isa repeatedly called Obama an “apostate Muslim.”

In sum, Muslims puzzle over Obama’s present religious status. They resist his self-identification as a Christian while they assume a baby born to a Muslim father and named “Hussein” began life a Muslim. Should Obama become president, differences in Muslim and American views of religious affiliation will create problems.

Mr. Pipes (www.DanielPipes.org), director of the Middle East Forum, is the Taube Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University during the spring semester.

“I remember when referring to him as B. Hussein was racist.” ~ y6162

So do a lot of other people. bttt

Mullings.Com http://www.mullings.com/dr_03-03-08.htm
A Name; An Ad
Monday March 3, 2008
Rich Galen

Let’s take a look at that business in Cincinnati last week where a local radio talk show host, warming up the crowd for Sen. John McCain, used Barack Obama’s - apparently forbidden - middle name: Hussein.

On CNN’s Strategy Session with Wolf Blitzer, I suggested that Michelle Obama, like Shakespeare’s Queen Gertrude, seemed to be protesting a bit too much about this whole middle name thing.

The Chicago Tribune’s Mark Silva quoted Mrs. Obama as saying:
“They threw in the obvious, ultimate fear bomb … When all else fails, be afraid of his name, and what that could stand for, because it’s different.”

First, it is his name . It is not a mean or playground nickname. It is not a ad hominem attack, like “fatso,” or “shrimp” or … “Jew.” It’s his name.

Second what is that about “…and what that could stand for …”? Is there something the name “Hussein” stands for which I, for one, am not aware?

Third, the name Hussein is generally held in high regard when applied to the late leader of Jordan, King Hussein I. For instance, King Hussein spoke at the funeral for Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin and said, in part,
I had never thought that the moment would come like this when I would grieve the loss of a brother, a colleague and a friend - a man, a soldier who met us on the opposite side of a divide whom we respected as he respected us.

That’s pretty good, isn’t it? I mean for a guy named “Hussein.”

Fourth, that nonsense about being “afraid of his name … because it’s different,” is just silly. As noted above there have been other men named “Hussein” on the world stage. Hussein isn’t that different.

“Barack” … now that’s different.

Fifth, the “ultimate fear bomb” is not saying “Barack Hussein Obama.” The “ultimate fear bomb” is saying President Barack Hussein Obama.

Finally, remember a couple of weeks ago when Michelle Obama said for the first time in her life she was finally really proud of her country? And people like me took her to task for that. And people like me were scolded and were told “they’re just words.”

Hey, Mitchy? It’s just a name. To close the Shakespeare loop, as Juliet said in Act II, Scene II:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

If it were discovered that the affirmative action figure Democrat lair-in-chief was not what he presented int he ghost-written 'autobiographies', how would the media react?

In the past, when the media was at least pretending to be objective, to be the fourth estate, the members writing the columns and issuing the statements from network would be outraged and quickly denounce and expose further lies. We saw it with Woodward and Bernstein, to a degree, when the already too partisan but still not a propaganda machine for the democrat party media went after the Republican president who behaved criminally.

But now, since the fourth estate transmogrified itself into the totally biased fifth estate enemy of we the people, the media will instead work their butts off to fabricate and promote lies of varying depth designed to create dissonance and confusion for their messiah of lies.

The fifth column enemy euphemistically called 'the media' have become the enemy of the people but too many of 'the people' are too dumbed down and too government dependent to give a damn.

The people who vote for democrats, regardless of the bankruptcy of Democrat party positions (such as empowering their party via support and defense of hideous abortion methods) have already made it impossible to save the Constitutional Republic because they now out number the fundamental values voters in Amerika.

Perhaps I'm delusional, but I do believe the conservative values Americans out number the degenerate democrat voters, like those who call themselves Catholics but continue to vote into power people who instill one after another policies absolutely contrary to Catholic values.

Sadly, too many with fundamental American values like Life, liberty, and 'just say no to socialism', have opted out of the voting exercise and by doing so have surrendered their values to the degeneracy of democrat constituencies like the homosexuals and dead-soul abortion worshiping feminist, and the criminally active orgs like ACORN which further murder the power of an individual's vote by fraudulent vote creation for dead people and imaginary voters (like Minny Mouse!).

The democrap party has long ago become a criminal enterprise. So it should surprise no one that they have fallen on their knees and dragged the media down with them, for an affirmative action figure fraud who lies out of both sides of his mouth, intentionally and repeatedly, and has as his main handler a man (David Axelrod) who uses the layering of lies to deflect discovery of his lying messiobowma.

The current directors of media actually admire Obowma's ability to lie so effectively out of both sides of his filthy mouth. Is he a moose limb? HAH! Obowma even lies to the King of Saudi Arabia by bowing to him while preparing to knife Saudi Arabia in protecting Iran's rise to poser ... the Arabs throughout the Middle East once again will be crapped upon by the Persian prince of darkness, and Obowma will inform them they should like it. It's been happening since even the time of Daniel. The puppets (like Obowma and Axelrod) are the only thing that changes in Satan's hope for our destruction.

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