Motstanderne av Barack H. Obama har satt igang en ryktekampanje om at han egentlig er muslim. Det hjelper ikke at Obama er medlem av en protestantisk kirke i Chicago. Hans familiebakgrunn veier tyngre, og den brukes til å mistenkeliggjøre ham.
Obamas bestefar på farssiden var muslim, og selv bodde han fire år – fra han var seks til han var ti år – i Indonesia. Det er nok til å så tvil om hvem han “egentlig” er.
Meningsmålinger viser at det er en økende muslim-skepsis blant amerikanere. Obamas tilhengere frykter at hans familiære tilknytning til islam, vil bli brukt til å Swift Boat ham. Det var måten man spilte dirty for å trekke John Kerrys integritet i tvil under forrige presidentvalgkamp.
Despite his denials, rumors and e-mails circulating on the Internet continue to allege that Obama (D-Ill.) is a Muslim, a “Muslim plant” in a conspiracy against America, and that, if elected president, he would take the oath of office using a Koran, rather than a Bible, as did Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the only Muslim in Congress, when he was sworn in earlier this year.
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An early rumor about Obama’s faith came from Insight, a conservative online magazine. The Insight article said Obama had “spent at least four years in a so-called madrassa, or Muslim seminary, in Indonesia.” It attributed this detail to background information the Clinton campaign had been collecting.
After Obama denied the rumor, Jeffrey Kuhner, Insight’s editor, said Obama’s “concealment and deception was to be the issue, not so much his Muslim heritage,” and he suggested that the source of the madrassa rumor was the Clinton campaign. The Clinton campaign denied the charge.
Human Events, another conservative magazine, published on its Web site a package of articles called “Barack Obama Exposed.” One of them was titled “The First Muslim President?”
Robert Spencer, a conservative activist, wrote in Human Events that “given Obama’s politics, it will not be hard to present him internationally as someone who understands Islam and Muslims, and thus will be able to smooth over the hostility between the Islamic world and the West — our first Muslim President.”
Conservative talk-show hosts have occasionally repeated the rumor, with Michael Savage noting Obama’s “background” in a “Muslim madrassa in Indonesia” in June, and Rush Limbaugh saying in September that he occasionally got “confused” between Obama and Osama bin Laden. Others repeatedly use the senator’s middle name, Hussein.
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The rumors about Obama have been echoed on Internet message boards and chain e-mails.
Nettverdenen gjør at rykter og insinuasjoner gjentas og forsterkes. Påstandene er vanskelig å forsvare seg mot. Jo mer Obama velger å forsvare seg, jo større oppmerksomhet får påstandene.
Obama har på sine turneer understreket sin tilhørighet i United Church of Church of Christ.
In the past few months, Obama has actively touted his Christianity, particularly in South Carolina, where his campaign hosted a gospel tour to appeal to black voters. He describes his movement from a “reluctant skeptic” to a believer during his 20s while he was working with black churches in Chicago as a community organizer. The title of his second book, “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream,” comes from a sermon by the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ.
Obama har tatt kampanjen mot ham alvorlig nok til at hans kampanjeledelse har fått fire lokale prester til å skrive et brev der de går god for hans kristne tro. Det sier noe om farene ved at tro blir en sak. En ting var Vietnam-rulleblad. Men når man begynner å så tvil om hvem en person “egentlig er”, åpner man en ny Pandoras eske av tvil og mistenksomhet.