Here's a starter question: This is raised my Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who claims Obama is the "most mysterious American president in history." Here are his comments. Is he right? If not, what's the point?
Barbour: We Know Little About Obama
Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 09:48 PM Article Font Size
Why do so many Americans question President Barack Obama's religious status and even his citizenship?
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says the answer is simple: Americans know less about President Obama than any other president in U.S. history.
"I don't know why people think what they think," Barbour, the head of the Republican Governor's Association, told USA Today. "This is a president we know less about than any other president. But I have no idea."
"I accept totally at face value that he's a Christian," Barbour said of a declaration Obama has made repeatedly. "That's good enough for me."
Barbour discounted allegations of a “conspiracy” behind the questioning of Obama’s birthplace or beliefs. USA Today’s Susan Page interviewed Barbour after recent interviews in which Obama has complained about organized efforts to smear him.
A Pew survey released this summer found that nearly one in five Americans believe Obama is a Muslim, up from 11 percent of Americans who held that view in 2009.
Obama was born to a Muslim father and studied during childhood at a Muslim school in Indonesia, but says in his 20s he converted to Christianity after meeting the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, a controversial Chicago pastor.
Barbour dismissed any claims that conservatives are seeking to undermine the president.
"Do I think there's a vast right-wing conspiracy?" Barbour said. "No, ma'am."
Obama recently chimed in on the controversy swirling around his religious status and birth place.
"There is a mechanism, a network of misinformation, that in a new media era can get churned out there constantly," Obama told NBC News in August.
"I'm not going to be worrying too much about whatever rumors are floating out there," Obama told NBC's Brian Williams. "If I spend all my time chasing after that then I wouldn't get much done. ... I can't spend all my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead."
But critics note that Obama has been less than forthcoming in releasing documents relating to his private life, typical of most presidents.
Obama has never released his long form birth certificate, which would include the exact place of birth, the name of the doctor who conducted the birth procedure and other birth details, fueling theories he may have been born outside the country. Hawaii state officials have stated they reviewed the full document and said Obama was born in Hawaii. Also, a local newspaper legal notice taken out by Obama's family days after his birth confirms this.
During the 2008 campaign Obama declined to release his school records for the three universities he attended. His Columbia University thesis has disappeared from the college's archives. Many records from his days as a state legislator in Illinois have also disappeared.
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I can see how people believe President Obama may be more "mysterious" than previous presidents, but at the same time there have been (in my mind) several somewhat controversial issues brought up since his election two years ago. We have had to hear about his religious beliefs, both pertaining to his controversial pastor and claims that he is a Muslim. We have dealt with the issue of his birthplace and if he was actually born in the US. While there are several things we still don't know about him, the article mentions that he is not the first president to be hesitant in releasing personal documents. I like that Obama has chosen to almost ignore the rumors because, as he said in the article, he would not have time to spend on the real issues Americans should be concerned about in this time of economic uncertainity.
ReplyDeleteOn the way home I was surfing through the radio and found a station carrying the EIB Network, Excellence in Broadcasting, the home of Rush Limbaugh. He was very happy about this poll. He claimed that he had would not be upset if President Obama would be a Muslim, be that he should be upfront about it. Limbaugh claimed that the writing was on the wall, according to him by a interview in the New York Times from 2007. In the interview Obama went on to recite the Muslim call to prayer, in a perfect arabic dictation, according to the author of the interview, who if i remember right was David Brooks? (not completely sure of that. The author went on to say that this must scare the hell out of Republicans in Mississippi, because as he believed this was a person above religious politics. Limbaugh then went on to add that he had a hard copy and since the interview, The New York Times has removed the interview from the online website. Limbaugh claimed this was the doing of the Obama Regime as he calls it, to further hide the writing on the wall. The Pew poll showed almost a fifth believed Barack Obama was Muslim. Of those who took the poll, what number were Rush Limbaugh listeners? How influential is Conservative talk Radio to a fifth of the US population? Something to think about...
ReplyDeleteSensible comments, but what about Newt Gringrich's latest commentary about pulling off the huge "con" on the American people in 2008, and having a Keynan worldview? Sydney's point about his Pastor, Reverend Wright, seems to have escaped the 31% of Republicans cited by Pew as convinced he is Muslim. Nicholas Kristof of the NY Times wrote of the GOP's strategy to "otherize" Obama, to make him seem "unAmerican," as not one of us. THis Sunday's column by Frank Rich in the NYT claims that the efforts and ability by others to brand Obama cannot all be blamed on his critics, that he must bear some responsibility. It's worthwile looking at the piece since Obama seems to "have lost control", as Chris Matthews has put it, "of his own biography." A key point in all of this concern over Obama's identity is straight-forward: for supporters, there needs to be a sense that he "gets" what life is like for us, that he's close enough to us in values that he can relate to our struggles. For opponents, portraying him as an alien makes him harder to identify with, as does depicting him as an "elitist" who is not able to relate to the struggles of the common folks. Such is the politics of presidential identity under this president.
ReplyDeleteI think that David brings up an interesting question in regards to the portion of poll respondents who believe Obama is a Muslim. What is it that caused the percentage figure to double from last year? There have been rumors flying around about Obama's true background ever since he was elected, but what has made more people take these comments seriously? While it would be nice to have a little bit better of an understanding of who Obama is, I believe he has the right to refrain from commenting on certain questions asked of him. I think that our society today is so focused on knowing everything about everyone that people are uncomfortable if it seems like someone is trying to hide something. I feel like a lot of the things the public wants to know about Obama aren't all that important and most of them wouldn't have any effect on how he rules our country either. However, I do believe that Obama could do a better job of trying to relate to the general public. This could be done in ways that wouldn’t require knowing more about his personal background though.
ReplyDeleteCheck out Dinesh D'Souza's piece to appear in Forbes magazine -- it's on D'Souza's website -- from which Newt Gingrich got the "idea" for Obama as holding to "an anti-colonial worldview." I for one think it's utter gibberish; that Obama is using the presidency to fight the anti-colonial wars of his Lua/Kenyan father and this is supposedly laid out in Obama's autobiographical book, Dreams from My Father. What a crock!!
ReplyDeleteThere are certainly enough rumors going around about these days, but what I wonder is why they are starting up now. What I've noticed (and maybe I have missed some of the rumors previously) is that politicians are slamming Obama more frequently now during the midterm election period. Perhaps it is just because they want to change the party in power or due to the struggling economy he is working to fix. But, if the American public was truly concerned about Obama's heritage, religion or other qualities, wouldn't these issues have come up during his election campaign? I don't believe Americans would elect someone to such a high office without first being sure that he was true to his country's values.
ReplyDeleteMy personal advise to Obama and the Dems:
ReplyDeleteStop playing the political game of Republican gurus. Play it smart, ignore those irrelevant comments about his birthplace and religious affiliation. The nation elected him as President and not Rush Limbaugh. MSNBC are pushing for Obama along with the rest of the Democrats to start explaining these different policies such as the tax cuts for the rich and The Health Reform. In a nutshell, Democrats its about time you started campaigning instead of tucking your tails in between the legs like a dog...hence the nickname "Bluedogs". My personal interpretation of MSNBC attempt to shed light on what Democrats should be doing will act as Campaigning 101 which they were wait-listed for in their respective institutions.
Why would they listen to me? After all I'm only a mildly mannered Norwegian with an odd sense of humor.
Rachel Maddow was very interesting tonight. There was a great piece on anti-government Conservatives, particularly Jim Demint of South Carolina, that he stated he would hold all legislation not cleared by his office. The idea of shutting down the government simply to do so? I understand the frustration of the Democrats and Republicans alike, but the extreme Conservatives are taking things to a whole other level. They have no reason to attempt to stop all legislation other than they can. Representative Jan Schakowsky of Illinois was also interviewed for a great piece on women's rights issues in which some Conservatives are running on the platform of being pro-life in every circumstance. Shutting down government, removing one of the most important women's rights since voting? Is ignorance really bliss?
ReplyDeleteBut hey, that is just one perspective.
We all know that the president is not and cannot be perfect. On account of this people from both political ideologies are likely to find some faults with his decisions at some point in time. The question that I want to raise is what type of decisions seem to bother people the most? What makes people upset enough to vote for the opposing party in midterm elections or the reelection of the president? I ask this because currently it is apparent that a large portion of the public is unhappy with the state of our country. Almost all of the predictions being made for the November election foresee the Democrats losing control of the House and Senate. The public was also largely dissatisfied with the country's position when Bush ran for reelection in 2004, however he remained in power. The Republicans also kept control of both the House and Senate. Maybe it is too early to ponder these questions, since we haven't seen any election results yet. However, if the predictions being made prove correct I think examining inquiries such as these will be necessary.
ReplyDelete