Some Muslims Upset With Obama's Anti-Smear Site

Wall Street Journal:

It is inaccurate to call Barack Obama a Muslim. Is it a slur?

The Obama campaign suggests it is. A new campaign Web site designed to air and rebut potentially damaging Internet rumors reads in one part: "Smear: Barack Obama is a Muslim... Truth: Sen. Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised as a Muslim and is a committed Christian."

The characterization highlights a tricky balance the campaign is trying to strike: to tamp down false rumors -- intended by some to link the Democratic presidential candidate to radical Islam -- without offending Muslims and harming his image.

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[larazon]

Muslims should direct their anger at the real reason O must disassociate himself from anything Muslim. The real reason is: there is racism and bigotry in America, and paranoia and fear rule over reason. I would say these things are much scarier than the fact that O's father was a Muslim from Kenya.

[Phil123]

You mean Obama isn't a Muslim? Did he change religions or something?
What's he got against Muslims?

[shades3]

Though being a muslim is not a smear in itself, obviously, it has been used as one against Obama to falsely tie him with terrorists.
Hillary Clinton understood how negative that is in the U.S. given the fear of anything Middle-Eastern and was actually guilty of attempting to use that fear some have by saying that he is not a Muslim....­..........­."as far as I know" instead of denying what she knew to be untrue.
Barack Obama is not and never has been a Muslim.
He had NO religious affiliation until he was in his early twenties when he bacame a Christian.
It is not illogical that the McCain will do the same thing that Clinton did, to take advantage of the ignorance of some people.
A "smear" in this context is anything that is untrue, but used to put Obama in a less desireable light for voters.
Being Catholic used to do the same thing, until John Kennedy was President.

[Plowboy]

I think this must be another of the many faux news stories we are subjected to.
Who is the offender here, the onne who tries to straighten the record after a false claim is put out about him, or the liar who first put it out as something derogatory?
The one making the false claim implies that being Muslim is bad. Thus, as any intelligent Muslim can see, he is slamming them. An honest denial of a false claim doesn't do that.
Thus I believe this story just another attempt by somme despicables to stir up trouble for Obama.
It would be lovely to live in a country with a free exchange of real information, but ours doesn't look like it will get that way soon. A report showng the US to have only the 53rd freest informaation media in the world shouldn't be thrilling anyone who wishes to believe our democratic pretenses. And anyone who believes inn freedopm of religion and nondiscrimination should be aappalled at this dirtbag product.
Wake up, America -- if you aren't already brain dead from so much poison. (And think how we have had Bush for TWO TERMS.)

[2liveNdie]

Seriously!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!

With the war on terror based on those of middle eastern race, what would you expect someone to do?

I don't see the same tenacity from this group when terrorist release video condemning the west and the destruction of the west and it's allies!!!!

[abdallac]

Excuse me - who are the real terrorists in this sordid 8 year long tale??

1. Did Iraq attack us?? No.

2. Did we attack them?? Hell Yes.

3. Did we kill over 100, 000 innocent men, women and children, HELL YES.

4. Did we bomb Afghanistan into the stone age looking for one dude and his crew of mad Men?? Yes.

5. Did we (Congress) pass a special bill to order MORE bombs to be made on overtime to be sent to Israel so they can shell Lebanon into oblivion. Hell Yes.

6. Are we now beating the drums for war on a fairly baseless case (once again) about imagined button ready Iran's nuclear capability. Oh HELL yes!

7. You have Mr. Black making highly enlightening and astonishing statements that another attack would be good for Mc Cain.

Does this last notation make you question who orchestrated the first set of attacks on the most technologically advanced national security system the world has EVER known. You still believe it was some dude up in a mountain cave training guys with set of monkey bars and can't even connect to the INTERNET?? Riiiiiiiii­iiiiiiiiii­iiight.

[Jay20]

Muslims, no one cares what you think. If you honored our great country more, then we would.

[StillIRise]

Typical small-minded bigoted response.

[larazon]

If so many Americans were not so bigoted, then O would not have to go out of his way to dispel lies and myths. It's simply disgusting the way this whole "Muslim" issue has been used against him. Muslims should not blame him for this, they should blame the President and this administration and the media who have demonized Islam. The only reasons they have not used his color against him as overtly is because AA's in this country make up an important electoral demographic and because AA politicians would be up in arms, but racism against his color is exercised much more subtly. What a country. MO said for the first time she is "really" proud because people are coming out in great numbers to vote. After what I have witnessed in this race, I don't know if I'm proud or ashamed that so many Americans are ignorant bigots. This race has exposed the best and the worst in this country.

[realityczech4u]

I never heard the President demonize Islam. Dubya told us the Islam is a religion of peace and I believe him . Yup. Unh-huh. Unh-huh. Unh-huh.

[laborgrunt]

As a Muslim American and an ardent liberal, I think that Muslims need to stop bringing more attention to Obama and this smear.
Y
es it is a smear, because it is a lie that is constructed in order to defeat Mr. Obama.
Obama is the best candidtate for Muslims, and all other minorities. Becuase McBush would continue a policy in which Muslim bashers are a part of the power circles of the president.

Also to all of the posters attacking Muslims as a whole because of the picture incident, take a chill pill. I have talked to plenty of Muslims since this whole story came up and most of them think its not a big deal, and they really blame the right-wing hate mongers for putting the Obama campaign in this awkward position.

OBAMA 08!!!!!!!!

[pupbayer]

Yeah, those darn Muslims. They need to learn their place and keep quiet, about their concerns uh?

[Liberoservative]

Thank you for your rationalit­y.... I would be curious if any of your Muslim American friends feel like the lady mentioned in the article who said that she was rethinking voting for Obama.... is she just not going to vote? Is she going to vote for the same people who put hate/fear mongering of Muslims square in the middle of American Policy? I just don't understand­... :(

[RatgurlSD]

Um, wouldn't the Mulims be equally offended if they were mistakenly called "Christian"?

[V4Vigilance]

A better analogy:
How would these Muslims feel if someone started a rumor they were a Christian in order to damage their standing in the Muslim community?

[abdallac]

Uhhhh, none of us would CARE. Because there is nothing wrong with being a Christian nor would it "damage their standing in the Muslim Community". More than that, all the Muslims I know would step up and squelch that type of thinking that it's a "smear" to be called a Christian.

That's actually a silly analogy. The main problem that I see people have is the lack of really knowing history. Muslims have lived alongside Christians and Jews peacefully for millenia. We KNOW who they are, we KNOW what they believe. They are our brothers (I am not discussing the fairly recent politics of the Isreali/Palestinian issue.). It is the complexity of the last century that we try to oversimplify into us vs. them.

[tel8034]

Let these few whiners stay upset if they choose to be.

They probably have forgotten that it was the Republican­/Bush/McCa­in regime who have spread the notion that ALL Muslims (everywhere including in America) are to be FEARED, ARE THE AXIS OF EVIL, AND ARE TERRORISTS OUT TO DESTROY THE GOOD OLD USA AND CHRISTIAN AMERICANS.

They probably have forgotten how badly Muslims were treated after 9/11.

They have forgotten how the average UNIFORMED person do everything in their power to avoid Muslims and how badly they treat them.

They have forgotten how many Muslims were targeted and wrongly arrested in America JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE MUSLIM, and released much later after the false charges against them could not hold water, WITHOUT AN APOLOGY FROM THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION.

So some inexperienced young VOLUNTEERS made the wrong call about where to seat the 2 Muslim females at a rally.....­..........­... IT WAS AN HONEST MISTAKE BECAUSE THEY HONESTLY THOUGHT THEY WERE PROTECTING OBAMA FROM ANY FURTHER NON-SENSICAL MEDIA COVERAGE.

Obama personally apologized on behalf of his campaign (even though HE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE INCIDENT), and BOTH ladies have said they ACCEPT HIS APOLOGY.

So SOME Muslims are still offended? I say to them GO VOTE FOR McCAIN IF THEY THINK OBAMA IS NOT WORTHY OF THEIR VOTE, and let them continue to enjoy a 3rd Bush term of biased Muslim profiling.­..........­........ They will certainly get the administration they deserve.

[laborgrunt]

Whoa, calm down calm down.

[JJaye]

Ok, now the Muslim community wants to get upset. Their anger is aimed toward the wrong way. I've wondered for months as Republicans have used the words "he's a muslim" and insulted Muslims as if Muslim = terrorist if there was some sort of Muslim anti-defamation league out there and where they were. It's like Muslims have been hiding for months while the right has insulted them and NOW they want to get upset because Barack is merely defending himself. Please!!

[oldwiseone]

First of all what's wrong with being a Muslim? Isn't it "unAmerican" to pick and choose religions? Are all Catholics sex offenders? Are all associates of the Pope sex offenders? Is Bush a sex offender because he embraces the Pope? Those who scream "Muslim" and "Black" are traitors to the American Dream. They are the evil ones and naturally shout the loudest when confronted by truth. Like Einstein once said "A ll great minds are atacked by small minds."

[queotic]

"I know his campaign is a little worried about how that could be twisted," Mr. Ellison says. "But I think you have to be careful not to start letting your detractors dictate who you talk to. Then you're not the captain of your own ship anymore."

I think this sums it up perfectly.

[4wehttam]

You have GOT to be kidding me!!!!

From Webster's Dictionary:

Smear: a usually unsubstantiated charge or accusation against a person or organization —often used attributively

How is correcting an UNSUBSTANTIATED CHARGE a slur?

[queotic]

It's not the charge they're talking about, but how they're responding to it. It's like, if someone says,

"That girl is a cheerleade­r."

"I am NOT a cheerleader! That is a SMEAR!"

Of course cheerleaders will get upset because the person defending themselves is indirectly saying that being a cheerleader is a bad thing. I agree with our Muslim brothers and sisters on this issue. Barack, of course, has to defend himself from false allegations of being Muslim (which is NOT a bad thing), but he also has to be careful not to feed the current xenophobia abour Arabs and Muslims.

[Raymondf]

Oh! no, He's going to lose the Muslim vote. Thats terrible.

[queotic]

That is terrible. Why would you be sarcastic about such a thing?