NYT: Obama is Pissing in the Wind

If what The New York Times is reporting is true, then Barack Obama is setting himself up for a big disappointment.

When it comes time for Election Day and all the American Muslims who are registered to vote do not cast their ballots for the Democratic candidate as a response to how Obama is not paying them enough attention or courting their votes, he will realize his mistake.

I understand it's a touchy situation considering Obama is often mistaken for a Muslim. Not to mention his middle name is Hussein. But to shun the Muslim community entirely makes him no better than George W. Bush, who will be forever defined by his hate/fear of Muslims.

From today's article:

"While the senator has visited churches and synagogues, he has yet to appear at a single mosque. Muslim and Arab-American organizations have tried repeatedly to arrange meetings with Mr. Obama, but officials with those groups say their invitations — unlike those of their Jewish and Christian counterparts — have been ignored. Last week, two Muslim women wearing head scarves were barred by campaign volunteers from appearing behind Mr. Obama at a rally in Detroit.

After the episode in Detroit last week, Mr. Obama telephoned the two Muslim women to apologize. “I take deepest offense to and will continue to fight against discrimination against people of any religious group or background,” he said in a statement.

Such gestures have fallen short in the eyes of many Muslim leaders, who say the Detroit incident and others illustrate a disconnect between Mr. Obama’s message of unity and his campaign strategy.

“The community feels betrayed,” said Safiya Ghori, the government relations director in the Washington office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

The article goes on to refer to a Pew Research Center poll that found that 10% of registered voters believe Obama is a Muslim.

If Obama doesn't get his act together he will lose votes from both Muslims who feel alienated as well as the populace who do not wish to vote for the Muslim that they believe he is.

It is very telling when America's first Muslim Congressman, Iowa Democrat Keith Ellison, says that “A lot of us are waiting for him to say that there’s nothing wrong with being a Muslim, by the way.”