This story is interesting. A couple of women who wear Muslim head scarves were refused some seats that would have been prominent behind Obama at a rally. So TV would picked up on a couple of obvious Muslims behind him.
His campaign apologized and issued all the "...that's not what this campaign is about..." noises.
So fine. But I think it was the right thing to do. He's trying to be elected president, not make Muslims more included in the political discourse of the nation. Not that there isn't a place for that, but this is more important right here, right now. The one thing that could sink his presidency right now is stuff like this.
3 comments:
Incorrect, Matt. Obama's raison d'etre is to remove idiotic, empty, and especially prejudicial pandering from the political discourse. He's supposed to be the game changing candidate who won't/can't be Swift-Boated, because he'll confront any empty attack like that head on, make the story about the hypocrisy and ignorance of the attack, turn the invention of such non-issues into a weakness for the ones who would try to twist reality with them.
Letting hijab-wearing Americans sit in view of the camera (or not) might (or might not) have lost votes for him in the aggregate, but if this mini-story attracts any attention, then letting the teachable moment pass without stamping down such idiocy once and for all would be a betrayal of what makes Obama a potentially transformative figure.
Stagecraft is hugely important in politics, but makes us a little squeamish when it's overtly racial. More commonly, you see pictures of a republican rally and you see half a dozen black faces right by the candidate, but a wider shot reveals an almost all-white crowd. I'm not criticising it; the campaign is trying to send a certain message.
Obama's a fool if he embraces these women at the expense of the racist votes he needs in Appalachia.
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