Posted on 01/19/2007 8:22:03 AM PST by Rutles4Ever
Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a Madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?
This is the question Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp is asking about Sen. Barack Obama.
An investigation of Mr. Obama by political opponents within the Democratic Party has discovered that Mr. Obama was raised as a Muslim by his stepfather in Indonesia. Sources close to the background check, which has not yet been released, said Mr. Obama, 45, spent at least four years in a so-called Madrassa, or Muslim seminary, in Indonesia.
"He was a Muslim, but he concealed it," the source said. "His opponents within the Democrats hope this will become a major issue in the campaign."
When contacted by Insight, Mr. Obama’s press secretary said he would consult with “his boss” and call back. He did not.
Sources said the background check, conducted by researchers connected to Senator Clinton, disclosed details of Mr. Obama's Muslim past. The sources said the Clinton camp concluded the Illinois Democrat concealed his prior Muslim faith and education.
"The background investigation will provide major ammunition to his opponents," the source said. "The idea is to show Obama as deceptive."
In two best-selling autobiographies—"The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" and "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance"—Mr. Obama, born in Honolulu where his parents met, mentions but does not expand on his Muslim background, alluding only to his attendance at a "predominantly Muslim school."
The sources said the young Obama was given the name Hussein by his Muslim father, which the Illinois Democrat rarely uses in public.
His father was black and came from Kenya. Mr. Obama’s mother, the daughter of a farmer, came from Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Obama's parents divorced when he was two years old. His father returned to Kenya.
Later, Mr. Obama's mother married an Indonesian student and the family moved to Jakarta. Mr. Obama returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his maternal grandparents.
The sources said the background check concerned Mr. Obama's years in Jakarta. In Indonesia, the young Obama was enrolled in a Madrassa and was raised and educated as a Muslim. Although Indonesia is regarded as a moderate Muslim state, the U.S. intelligence community has determined that today most of these schools are financed by the Saudi Arabian government and they teach a Wahhabi doctrine that denies the rights of non-Muslims.
Although the background check has not confirmed that the specific Madrassa Mr. Obama attended was espousing Wahhabism, the sources said his Democratic opponents believe this to be the case—and are seeking to prove it. The sources said the opponents are searching for evidence that Mr. Obama is still a Muslim or has ties to Islam.
Mr. Obama attends services at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago’s South Side. However, he is not known to be a regular parishioner.
"Obama's education began a life-long relationship with Islam as a faith and Muslims as a community," the source said. "This has been a relationship that contains numerous question marks."
The sources said Mr. Obama spent at least four years in a Muslim school in Indonesia. They said when Mr. Obama was 10, his mother and her second husband separated. She and her son returned to Hawaii.
"Then the official biography begins," the source said. "Obama never returned to Kenya to see relatives or family until it became politically expedient."
In both of his autobiographies, Mr. Obama characterizes himself as a Christian—although he describes his upbringing as mostly secular.
In “The Audacity of Hope,” Mr. Obama says, "I was not raised in a religious household." He describes his mother as secular, but says she had copies of the Bible, the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita in their home.
Mr. Obama says his father was "raised a Muslim, but by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist...." Mr. Obama also describes his father as largely absent from his life. He says his Indonesian stepfather was "skeptical" about religion and "saw religion as not particularly useful in the practical business of making one's way in the world ...."
In the book, Mr. Obama briefly addresses his education in Indonesia. "During the five years that we would live with my stepfather in Indonesia, I was sent first to a neighborhood Catholic school and then to a predominantly Muslim school; in both cases, my mother was less concerned with me learning the catechism or puzzling out the meaning of the muezzin's call to evening prayer than she was with whether I was properly learning my multiplication tables."
Oh, I wouldn't know. Iowans don't talk politics casually.
I don't get the feeling that Iowa Dems are eager to vote for Hillary at all. The polls put Edwards in the lead, which leads me to conclude that they are really saying, "Anybody but Hillary (or Kerry)". Kerry polls particularly badly.
The unions will bet on her inevitability, though, and will back her, even though Edwards works hard for that segment. That, along with Vilsack (fmr. Iowa gov.) running, will probably put her second or even possibly first in a very splintered field.
Obama will not be defeated by a single bullet (former Muslim, goofy church, no experience) he's one to be destroyed by a thousand patient cuts.
That's true in general. Presidents are supported on their totality and candidates are opposed on their totality. There are certain themes that work to one extent or another, but they have to be broad: Bush is dumb, Kerry is elitist.
The theme should be that Obama is a neophyte and empty suit and we tailor each attack to that theme. The Muslim stuff just comes off as mean and bigoted, even though it isn't. Let the Hillary camp do that whisper campaign.
Indiana's prolly about the same.
I remember one of the Hollywood crowd, about a year ago, maybe it was Demo-sugar daddy David Geffen, talking about her and using the word "unelectable". (If that's a word.)
In any event she makes a good scare-crow!
I agree with you. I have thought "sleeper" ever since he first appeared on the scene. Very scary...
Good point. Being one of a select 100 (out of 270,000,000) waters down the concern greatly, I guess.
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There are certain themes that work to one extent or another, but they have to be broad: Bush is dumb, Kerry is elitist.
It's ever more broad. Republicans have been painted as dumb since I've been alive. GWB, not so much GHWB, Reagan (dumb & asleep), Ford (dumb & clumsy), Nixon (dumb criminal), Eisenhower (dumb even though he conquered half the world). |
They try dumb whenever they can. (This is why the one attack that unhinges liberals is to call them stupid. It's the one thing they can't think of themselves as being. As a mathematician, I can easily get away with it.)
But Nixon was not stereotyped as dumb. He was always portrayed as evil, manipulative, secretive, anti-social, etc., but dumb never took hold.
Remember GHWB? He was a "wimp". Even when he attacked Iraq, that was portrayed as some sort of attempt to quash the "wimp factor".
Poor Palestinian Politics Injures Hillary and Our Righteous Cause
Gee thanks for all that wonderful insight on the Bushes.
Lets come out of the "weeds" and come up with a saying for OBAMA, something like:
"OBAMA means Die Whitey"
"It might. But not necessarily. This could be a ploy of the Hillary camp where they use Obama to show how enlightened Hill is. They use this stuff to get the word out about him and that could keep him from getting the nomination. But then she could come to the "realization" that someone's past should not be used against them in the future, that we need to understand the needs and concerns of Muslims."
Exactly. Thank you.
That article makes Guiliani look really good. Other than snubbing Arafat, I don't see any evidence of him being "notoriously anti-Arab" but being Muslim means never having to say...well, anything truthful.
He needs to be asked whether he will place his hand on a Bible or a koran (lowercase on purpose) if sworn in as POTUS.
This brings to mind the old saying of "a Hobson's choice"...ie having to choose betweena Muslim or a Mormon might be a "damned if I do or a damned if I don't" kind of delimna.
This earmarks almost all of the early "presidential candidates and "wannabes" so far.
For a sundry set of reasons, all appear to be "drain circlers".
Since his middle name was revealed, who didn't see this coming?
And as the leader of the Great Satan President Bush isn't???
As to other reasons he's qualified or not qualified for being POTUS, the position he's in as an apparent former Muslim- disqualifies him.
Last time I checked Article VI, Section 3 was still a part of the Constitution.
More important, why hasn't a fatwa been declared against him already as an apostate? Also, why haven't any Muslim organizations criticised him as one? This makes it look like he might be a secret Muslim, meaning he's concealing his religion for no legitimate reason. As such a Trojan Horse he could be particularly dangerous in the Oval Office.
I cant believe I am typing this but...
"GO HILL!!!!! YOU GO "GIRL"!!!!
LMAO.
How dumb are we?
Well at least pretty dumb.
"So this blows the Clinton/Obama ticket theory out of the water. Unless people don't care if he's a Muslim (which wouldn't surprise me). If Obama makes just one appearance as a guest judge on "American Idol", that's it he's in."
You'd think, but these are Leftist Democrats. Nothing matters outside gaining power and keeping power. They understand the game, they play for keeps. Unlike Republicans who don't understand politics. I'm not saying Republicans should stoop to this level, but they should
learn to stand up for themselves and what they believe in.
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