Pitts: Obama must confront Muslim issue

Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts says Barack Obama needs to address his campaign's "standoffishness toward American Muslims.

"Until Sept. 11, 2001, that community was poised for assimilation, poised to submerge itself in the American mainstream like the Jews, Irish and Italians before them," Pitts writes. "The actions of a handful of their co-religionists on that fateful day wrecked that trajectory beyond recognition and unleashed something base and ugly in the American character.

"Muslims were snatched from the threshold of acceptance, painted once again as the alien and vaguely threatening Other. Can you imagine how that must feel? It is galling and painful to see yourself reduced to a caricature based on someone else's fears."

"And Barack Obama should know that better than most."

Read the full column here.

Comments

[Political Observer]

The issue is not whether Obama is a Muslim but how his rearing , relationships and life experiences with Muslims and others will impact his ultimate decision making.We are woven together by our upbringing and early experiences in life. Once inprinted..things don't change much ...only the way we rationalize our behavior.It takes years of therapy to undo negative feelings from our childhood. Ask any psychologist.Obama has many negatives and may harbor many resentments that have not been resolved professionally.Just read his book.

[Danny]

I want know what sort of religion, if any, Obama followed before he found it politically expedient to join his former church in Chicago. He attended muslim schools as a child????????

Of course Obama recently found it politically expedient to drop the Chicago church lest he offend moderate voters.

At worst, he is a stealth Muslim- at best he uses his "religion" for political gain.

[Curious]

Barack HUSSEIN Obama: UNTRIED, UNAMERICAN, UNFIT.

[Samir]

As Mr. Pitts said, he should not just say he's not a Muslim but explain there's nothing wrong with being a Muslim, and there are 6 million American Muslims, as well as 1.5 billion on the planet. His childhood experiences can only serve to benefit America's relationship with the Muslim world, a relationship that has suffered huge setbacks during 8 years of the Bush white house. Maybe more Americans will learn about peace under Obama.