President Barack Obama chose to give his first televised interview from the White House to the Arab network Al Arabiya in what is widely seen as an intelligent strategy. However, hearing what he said makes me worried that in the process he may be running a serious risk of unsettling his domestic political standing.
I was particularly struck by this comment: “Now, my job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect. I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries ... the largest one, Indonesia. And so what I want to communicate is the fact that in all my travels throughout the Muslim world, what I've come to understand is that regardless of your faith – and America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers – regardless of your faith, people all have certain common hopes and common dreams. And my job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives. My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.”
For the president of a country that largely sees itself as Christian to say “I have Muslim members of my family” is not just bold but, more importantly, it is fraught with possibilities of willful misrepresentation. I was reminded of one of Senator John McCain’s campaign rallies where an elderly woman suggested that Obama was an Arab and a Muslim as if either is some kind of contagion that Americans must avoid. Obama’s comments to the Al Arabiya will likely serve to reinforce prejudice in the minds of many Americans like the woman at the campaign rally. It would not have gone unnoticed in this group of people that Obama used his middle name Hussein during his swearing in on January 20. I can almost hear the right wing blogs lighting up with innuendoes about Obama’s Muslim connection to imply that he masqueraded as a Christian to take over America.
On a separate note, while emphasizing that America is a multicultural and multireligious country he almost repeated what he said in his inaugural address but with one omission—Hindus. “America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers..” he said. I personally do not care since I have no stake in any religion but it would be interesting to find out if the omission was deliberate or innocent. In a country where Hindus do not even constitute one percent Obama need not have felt compelled to mention them in the inauguration address. One noticed it only because he included them then and left them out now. I am just nitpicking, speaking of which some people may have even an issue with the fact that he said “America is a country of Muslims…” and not “America is a country of Christians..”