Told ya so. A White House aide has announced that Obama has Muslim roots and "experienced Muslim on three continents."
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."
Update 1: It gets worse. Obama has now announced that the U.S. could be viewed as one of the largest Muslim countries in the world:
As President Obama prepared to leave Washington to fly to the Middle East, he conducted several television and radio interviews at the White House to frame the goals for a five-day trip, including the highly-anticipated speech Thursday at Cairo University in Egypt.
In an interview with Laura Haim on Canal Plus, a French television station, Mr. Obama noted that the United States also could be considered as “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”
Talk about distortion! America is still 75% to 80% Christian, according to pollsters. Muslims represent less than 1% of the population. For comparison purposes, 11% of Americans still think Elvis could be alive (according to a 2002 poll taken 25 years after Elvis died). So I guess by Obama's definition, America is still one of the largest Elvis-afterlife-believing nations in the world.
Update 2: From Michael Goldfarb:
Eight million Muslims seems to be at the high end of estimates of America's Muslim community. That number barely puts the United States in the top 40. There are more Muslims in tiny Jordan than there are in the United States, and twice as many in Syria.
Obama is undertaking a very significant reorientation of American foreign policy, and one hopes that he isn't doing so on the very mistaken belief that the United States is one of the largest Muslim countries in the world. Actually, if you look at the number of Jewish Americans, we'd be the largest Jewish country in the world after Israel. And America is the largest Christian country in the world. This context might be useful to the president as he tries to help the Muslim world better understand the United States.
As I wrote last September when the mainstream media were dismissing out of hand the possibility that Obama is Muslim, When Obama Refers to 'My Muslim Faith,' Slip or Not, It's Fair to Ask Questions. My lengthy post from September 8, 2008 is suddenly very relevant again. For those interested, it is reprinted in full below.
As a Christian, yes, it bothers me that we've elected a president whose professed Christian faith often seems tenuous. Of course I believe that America's blessings flow partly from its religious faith in a forgiving, loving God. In this 9/11 world, I also have some qualms about the wisdom of putting a man with Muslim roots in the highest office in the land. If Obama otherwise came across as a patriotic, America-loving, tough-on-defense president, this might be less of a concern. But as he is, taking all of his weakness in matters of national security into account, Obama is a worrisome president.
Will Obama's newly-rediscovered Muslim roots help him with Muslims in the Middle East? No, because (a) Obama officially renounced Islam to join Rev. Wright's anti-American Chicago church, and hence is an "apostate" worthy of death, as far as most Islamists are concerned and (b) Islamists who are committing murder and mayhem around the world in the name of Allah simply cannot let go of their real and imagined grievances. If they did, they would have to stop killing people, and where's the fun in that?
To illustrate the point, al Qaeda's number two leader Ayman al-Zawahri is already scoffing at Obama's goodwill overtures:
In an audio message posted on a radical Islamist website, al-Zawahri said:
"His bloody messages were received and are still being received by Muslims, and they will not be concealed by public relations campaigns or by farcical visits or elegant words..."
"...[Obama is] that criminal who came seeking, with deception, to obtain what he failed to achieve in the field after the mujahideen ruined the project of the crusader America in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia..."
"...The White House said that Obama will send a message from Egypt to the Islamic world, but they forgot that his messages have already been received by the Islamic world when he visited the Wailing Wall, put on his head the Jew's cap and prayed their prayers, though he claims to be Christian."
The good news is that according to the AP piece citing the AQ quotes above, "some analysts believe [this] indicates the terrorist organization is worried [President Obama] will be effective in improving the U.S. image in the Muslim world." While I think it would be a very good thing if some of the edge was taken of off the attitude of many Muslims toward the U.S., I just can't quite imagine al-Zawahri and his colleagues staying up late at night in caves or huts in the FATA region of Pakistan clutching their worry beads.
Here's my earlier post on Obama's Muslim faith, for those who are interested:
WHEN OBAMA REFERS TO 'MY MUSLIM FAITH,' SLIP OR NOT, IT'S FAIR TO ASK QUESTIONS, published by Gina Cobb September 8, 2008
I know this much: You'll never hear the words "my Muslim faith" coming out of my mouth by accident.
So how is it that Barack Obama had this exchange with George Stephanopoulos (a Bill Clinton administration Democrat-turned-broadcaster):
The exchange came after Mr. Obama said that Republicans are attempting to scare voters by suggesting he is not Christian, which McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said was "cynical."
Asked about it on ABC, Mr. Obama said, "These guys love to throw a rock and hide their hand."
"The McCain campaign has never suggested you have Muslim connections," said Mr. Stephanopoulos, who repeatedly interrupted Mr. Obama during the interview.
"I don't think that when you look at what is being promulgated on Fox News, let's say, and Republican commentators who are closely allied to these folks," Mr Obama responded, and Mr. Stephanopoulos interrupted: "But John McCain said that's wrong."
. . . .
"Let's not play games," he said. "What I was suggesting -- you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. And you're absolutely right that that has not come."
Mr. Stephanopoulos interrupted with, "Christian faith."
"My Christian faith," Mr. Obama said quickly. "Well, what I'm saying is that he hasn't suggested that I'm a Muslim. And I think that his campaign's upper echelons have not, either.
Here's the video:
Allahpundit at Hot Air is quick to point out that Obama didn't "admit" he is Muslim. Of course not. But Obama did refer to "my Muslim faith." Allahpundit's assumption, and that of many, will be that Obama's reference to his Muslim faith was simply a mindless substitution of "Muslim" for "Christian." But how does that even happen? How does a professing, practicing Christian ever say on autopilot, before catching himself, "my Muslim faith"?
If I'm not mistaken, Allahpundit is an atheist or is in religious "search" mode -- so it presumably is unimportant to Allahpundit whether Obama is Christian or not. But to most Christians, it's at least a relevant topic for discussion. And it's not a smear to ask the question of whether the slip of the tongue was revealing or not. Allahpundit is right to try to seize the high ground that the left has systematically ignored in its smears of Palin, McCain, and many others, but something is missing in the analysis here.
Given the subject matter Obama was discussing with Stephanopoulos -- the recurring issue of whether Obama is Muslim -- it's possible that Obama merely transposed one word for another without any Freudian slip involved in the accident. It's also possible that it was a Freudian slip. There is simply no evidence one way or the other.
What to do, then, when the evidence of how a slip of the tongue came about is uncertain? Do we discard the evidence completely, or do we file it away as a "no immediate action" item, but keep it in mind should it turn out to be relevant later?
Of course we don't throw the evidence away.
Convictions in criminal cases have depended, in part, on evidence of damning slips of the tongue.
And I'll tell you what: The latest slip of referring to "my Muslim faith" fits in awfully well with many other pieces of the puzzle.
Like this one: Barack Hussein Obama also said that America is "no longer Christian" (even though about 80% of Americans still identify themselves as Christian, with only about 1% identifying themselves as Jewish and 1% as Muslim).
Does declaring America "no longer Christian" (when 80% of the country is still identifies itself as Christian) sound like something a bona fide Christian would do? Every Christian adult is aware of the "great commission" to "go and make disciples of all nations." It would seem rather a step in the opposite direction to start declaring nations "no longer Christian" -- starting with a nation with 80% Christian identification (and only 1% Jewish identification and 1% Muslim). Whose side is Obama on?
Forgive me if I wonder why the pastor Obama chose as his spiritual mentor for 20 years (a former Muslim himself who still uses Nation of Islam bodyguards) who spouts hatred for America instead of love for all. Forgive me if I take a closer look and ask just how deep are this man's roots in the religion he currently professes.
Forgive me if I ask why Obama has lied about having been raised Muslim.
Daniel Pipes has pulled the evidence together in once place. Key points:
- Obama's Muslim birth father: Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (1936–1982) was a Muslim who named his boy Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. Only Muslim children are named "Hussein".
- Obama's Muslim Indonesian family: His stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, was also a Muslim. In fact, as Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng explained to Jodi Kantor of the New York Times: "My whole family was Muslim, and most of the people I knew were Muslim." An Indonesian publication, the Banjarmasin Postreports a former classmate, Rony Amir, recalling that "All the relatives of Barry's father were very devout Muslims."
- The Catholic school: Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press reports that "documents showed he enrolled as a Muslim" while at a Catholic school during first through third grades. Kim Barker of the Chicago Tribune confirms that Obama was "listed as a Muslim on the registration form for the Catholic school." A blogger who goes by "An American Expat in Southeast Asia" found that "Barack Hussein Obama was registered under the name ‘Barry Soetoro' serial number 203 and entered the Franciscan Asisi Primary School on 1 January 1968 and sat in class 1B. … Barry's religion was listed as Islam."
- The public school: Paul Watson of the Los Angeles Times learned from Indonesians familiar with Obama when he lived in Jakarta that he "was registered by his family as a Muslim at both schools he attended." Haroon Siddiqui of the Toronto Starvisited the Jakarta public school Obama attended and found that "Three of his teachers have said he was enrolled as a Muslim." Although Siddiqui cautions that "With the school records missing, eaten by bugs, one has to rely on people's shifting memories," he cites only one retired teacher, Tine Hahiyari, retracting her earlier certainty about Obama's being registered as a Muslim.
- Koran class: In his autobiography, Dreams of My Father, Obama relates how he got into trouble for making faces during Koranic studies, thereby revealing he was a Muslim, for Indonesian students in his day attended religious classes according to their faith. Indeed, Obama still retains knowledge from that class: Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times, reports that Obama "recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them [to Kristof] with a first-rate accent."
- Mosque attendance: Obama's half-sister recalled that the family attended the mosque "for big communal events." Watson learned from childhood friends that "Obama sometimes went to Friday prayers at the local mosque." Barker found that "Obama occasionally followed his stepfather to the mosque for Friday prayers." One Indonesia friend, Zulfin Adi, states that Obama "was Muslim. He went to the mosque. I remember him wearing a sarong" (a garment associated with Muslims).
- Piety: Obamahimself says that while living in Indonesia, a Muslim country, he "didn't practice [Islam]," implicitly acknowledging a Muslim identity. Indonesians differ in their memories of him. One, Rony Amir, describes Obama as "previously quite religious in Islam."
[Update added 9/8/08] Driving home the point, there's this longer except from the New York Times article posted at Obama's own website:
On March 6, 2007, Nicholas D. Kristof at the New York Times wrote an article about Barack Obama's upbringing, "Obama: Man of the World," where Obama discussed his Muslim upbringing in Jakarta:
"I was a little Jakarta street kid," he said in a wide-ranging interview in his office (excerpts are on my blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground). He once got in trouble for making faces during Koran study classes in his elementary school, but a president is less likely to stereotype Muslims as fanatics -- and more likely to be aware of their nationalism -- if he once studied the Koran with them.
Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it'll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset."
Moreover, Mr. Obama's own grandfather in Kenya was a Muslim. Mr. Obama never met his grandfather and says he isn't sure if his grandfather's two wives were simultaneous or consecutive, or even if he was Sunni or Shiite.Why does it matter?
It matters because religion affects world view, which affects policy. It matters because Christianity and Islam are not two alternate brands of the same product. They are not Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. Look at the fruits that each religion is producing today. One religion has produced the most free, prosperous, tolerant nation in the history of the earth -- one where Christians, Jews, and Muslims can indeed worship side by side in peace, and agnostics and atheists have the freedom not to worship or to explore spirituality in other ways.
The other religion -- Islam -- has produced countless hot spots for bloody religious conflict around the world. Count up the countries where innocent non-combatant civilians minding their own business are most likely to be bombed, kidnapped, beheaded, or otherwise slaughtered in the name of a deity in the past 10, 20 or 30 years. The contrast is clear.
If you are to know a religion by its fruits, then one knows enough of Islam's fruits, as Islam is actually understood and practiced in most parts of the world today, to know that there is something deeply wrong. From the running tote at TheReligionofPeace.com:
Should there be a religious test for the presidency? No such test is imposed by America's Constitution, for reasons based in the founders' experience. But individuals are free to determine for themselves whether a man's religion, or lack thereof, or weak commitment thereto, might make a difference in their vote. If you understand anything about religion, you know that it affects a person's world view and values. If you think that Christianity embodies positive values and a helpful world view, then of course you care whether Obama is Christian or not.
In this age of the global Islamic jihad, it is of course highly relevant even to non-practicing Christians, agnostics, atheists and others whether a person who wants to be commander in chief of a country is Muslim. To state that it would have no bearing on election to the presidency is absurd.
Yes -- I could see myself voting for an agnostic, atheist, Hindu, Muslim or Jew. I probably have done so many times without even thinking about it. But given that America is currently in the cross-hairs of the Islamic jihad -- the Great Satan -- the one Islamic jihadists want most to destroy -- yes, I care whether we elect a Muslim to the presidency. If we do so, it had better be a Muslim who has been a strong American patriot from Day One. That does not describe Mr. Barack "Won't-Wear-a-Flag-Pin" Obama.
It is not exactly reassuring that Obama wants to sit down without preconditions with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinajad -- who openly longs for a world without America and openly threatens its destruction (as do crowds in Iran routinely, and as did the Iranian legislature on the day it voted to resume uranium enrichment).
If something seems iffy to voters -- if a man has a Muslim father or stepfather, a Muslim elementary school registration, an agnostic mother, and no Christian roots except in a black liberation theology church -- it's fair to ask questions about faith, and it's fair to test the answer for accuracy and re-test it if warranted.
So allow me to recap what I've written, just to avoid a lot of flying to conclusions by the reading-comprehension-impaired:
1. Is it possible that Obama's reference to "my Muslim faith" was a revealing Freudian slip? Yes.
2. Is it possible that it was a just a momentary brain freeze, with no meaning? Yes.
3. Do we have definitive evidence either way at this point? No.
4. Does that mean that the reference to "my Muslim faith" has no evidentiary value on the question of Obama's religious beliefs? No; it does have evidentiary value even though it's not conclusive by itself.
5. Has Obama made other statements and engaged in other actions that seem incompatible with being a sincere, devoted Christian? Yes. He has stated that America is no longer a Christian nation, which seems rather odd considering that Christians are about 80% of the population and Muslims only 1% and Jews only 1%.
6. Does America have a religious test for the presidency? No.
7. Is it acceptable for individuals to take religion into account in casting their votes? Absolutely, just as individuals are free to take into account political beliefs, values, likability, presence, hair styles, and any other factor they deem relevant.
8. Must we conclusively assume that Barack Obama is Christian because he says he is and attended an anti-American black liberation theology church for 20 years? Of course not.
9. Are Americans who continue to raise questions about whether Obama is secretly a Muslim out of line? No. If Obama has to prove his sincerity again and again between now and election day, let him do so. Let him get out there and do it. If he's not sincere about his faith or is still searching or is sympathetic to the religion of his childhood, then let him explain why we should trust him and vote for him anyway. But trying to make questions off limits is unacceptable. That's not what religious freedom means in America -- treating all religious questions as irrelevant. If religion matters -- and it does -- then a candidate had better be able to answer questions about it as often as necessary -- without whining.
10. Is there such a thing as being a religious phony? You bet. I remember that George W. Bush welcomed a question in a debate that asked him to name a figure he admired: he named Jesus Christ, to the squirming discomfiture of his interrogator. I remember John Kerry struggling with a debate question about religion, rapidly switching the subject from his professed Catholicism to some sort of Native American spiritual ceremony he had attended. I remember the Clintons, in the midst of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, picking up Bibles and prominently carrying them to church. I know which of these professions of religious faith seemed phony or tentative to me, and which seemed sincere.
11. Do some conservative commentators, whether they are Christian, atheist, or agnostic, think that whether a politician is Christian or Muslim doesn't matter? Absolutely. To some of them, Obama's slip is a non-issue. Others do care, but hesitate to be seen as applying some sort of a religious test to a candidate.
But to most practicing Christians, it is at least of passing interest whether a president shares the same faith. To reiterate, don't get me wrong -- I could see myself voting for Joseph Lieberman, a Jew, in a heartbeat. I could even see myself voting for a strong-national-defense, fiscally conservative Muslim. But, all other things being equal, I'd prefer a president who shares my religious beliefs or who is in the same general ballpark. Wouldn't you?
12. Do I think that Obama secretly kneels on a prayer mat five times a day? I doubt it. But when a man argues that America is no longer a Christian nation, I'm not sure whether to put that guy down in the "worships a Christian God" column. Are you?
Will I and other Americans continue to watch Barack Obama closely? You can count on it. Will religious faith control my vote entirely? Of course not. But don't expect me to look away, and don't dismiss questions about religious faith as irrelevant. America doesn't.
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