{"id":308,"date":"2009-04-17T00:08:14","date_gmt":"2009-04-17T00:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2009\/04\/obamas-credibility-gap-in-the.html"},"modified":"2009-04-17T00:08:14","modified_gmt":"2009-04-17T00:08:14","slug":"obamas-credibility-gap-in-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2009\/04\/obamas-credibility-gap-in-the.html","title":{"rendered":"Obama’s credibility gap in the Muslim world begins at home"},"content":{"rendered":"
I don’t think there’s much reason yet for anyone to complain about Obama’s foreign policy to the Muslim world, especially given that we haven’t even hit the 100-day mark yet. I personally would have preferred to see the “major speech in a muslim capital” occur in that first 100, but the reality is that Obama’s plate was piled higher and deeper than any president since Reagan’s even prior to taking office. Still, by any reasonable standard, Obama has thus far gone above and beyond with respect to Obama’s engagement with the Ummah.<\/div>\n
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Of course, given the realities of our nation’s foreign policy priorities, the muslim world dominates the agenda, so Obama’s active stance is as much necessity as it is outreach. However, Obama has a credibility problem with the ummah, that centers on two issues: 1. his ambiguous stance on the Israeli-Palestine issue and 2. his keeping the domestic US muslim community at arms’ length.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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With respect to Israel and Palestine, it is worth noting that the newly-elected extreme right wing government headed by Bibi Netanyahu is making it easier on Obama, somewhat ironically. For example, consider the constant refrain from Israeli partisans that the Palestinians do not “recognize Israel’s right to exist.” In actual fact Fatah and Arafat recognized<\/a> it as far back as 1988, and even Hamas has implicitly conceded this point<\/a>, by indicating they would accept a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders. It is actually Israel that refuses to acknowledge Palestine<\/a>‘s right to exist – Netanyahi has yet to affirm his support for the two-state solution and the other major figures in government are explicitly against the idea of Palestinian statehood altogether. Obama’s response thus far is what Richard Silverstein calls a tectonic shif<\/a>t – Obama has refused to meet with Netanyahu in May during the AIPAC conference and has said he’d like to see a Palestinian state by the end of his first term<\/span>. Birth pangs of a new Middle East, indeed!<\/div>\n
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Still, that remains talk, not action. So while there is cause for optimism on that front, the kudos have yet to be earned, as far as the muslim world is concerned. It is indeed a positive sign, but just that – only a sign. Trust requires more.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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In contrast, Obama’s policy towards muslim Americans\u00a0has been one of omission\u00a0– from minor<\/span><\/div>\n
symbolic gestures like visiting an American mosque, to outright\u00a0timidity regarding potential “associations” with any muslim-American\u00a0who might however tenuously be tarred as a terrorist sympathizer or\u00a0worse, pro-Palestinian advocate. The frankly crass abandonment of\u00a0Mazen Asbahi<\/a> by the Obama campaign was instructive, as is the\u00a0continued distance Obama now keeps from Rashid Khalidi, whose long friendship with Obama<\/a> became politically\u00a0inconvenient. This is a pattern of capitulation by Obama to fears of muslim associations, starting with his refusal to confront the “Obama is a muslim” smear<\/a> when it first surfaced with the same clarity and courage he marshaled in his historic speech on race. \u00a0All Obama needed to do was say in response, not just “I am not a muslim”, but also “so what if I were<\/a>?” In essence, Obama considered racism a less of a threat than muslims to his political ambition. Yes, it was a close election and even closer primary – but on all these issues, a principled defense would have been easy, especially for someone with Obama’s rhetorical and charismatic gifts.<\/span><\/div>\n

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One opportunity President Obama has in regaining\u00a0credibility here is to permit European muslim intellectual Tariq\u00a0Ramadan<\/a> entry to the United States, formerly barred by the previous\u00a0Administration<\/a> from accepting a faculty position at Notre Dame\u00a0University. However, I wouldn’t hold my breath on that score.\u00a0
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Related – Asbahi’s close friend Rany Jazayerli writes a passionate defense and scathing critique<\/a> of the McCarthyite slander campaign against him. Shahed Amanullah points out the chilling effect that Asbahi’s persecution<\/a> has on any muslim-American seeking to enter the political sphere or serve their country. With regard to Rashid Khalidi, Scott Horton in Harper’s Magazine ably refutes<\/a> the beneath-contempt accusation of anti-semitism, and Jake Tapper points out the hypocrisy of McCain’s attempt<\/a> to use Khalidi as an attack – which only underscores how craven it was for Obama to surrender the issue. Lastly, it should be noted that Tariq Ramadan’s main message to European muslims that their loyalties should lie to their adopted host countries<\/a>, not to some vague and diffuse notion of Ummah. The American prospect had an interview with Ramadan<\/a> a few years back that really illuminates his thinking.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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I don’t think there’s much reason yet for anyone to complain about Obama’s foreign policy to the Muslim world, especially given that we haven’t even hit the 100-day mark yet. 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City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}