Spartacus and the Race for the White House

I want to expand a little on a comment I left on Jon Trott's post on Obama. Back in the beginning of August Jerome Corsi (pictured right) released a book which I make point of not linking to The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality which among (many) other things insinuates (although from what I gather never explicitly states) that Obama was for many years a Muslim. But, whether stated or not, Corsi aim to allege that Obama is of Muslim lineage and sympathy (Public Health Warning: the latter link is to a WND site, exercise extreme caution - may induce vomiting). Now I know to label a story the concerns adherence to a world faith as racist, on a strictly logical level is invalid, but let's face it is it the vision of a multiethnic religion that Corsi is referring to? Of course not, to be Muslim is to impose an alien ethic and alien presence on the 'Christian', or at least Judeo-Christian vision of America. But to claim that elements of the US right tap into latent fear and racism is hardly groundbreaking news. When I first heard this story it brought to mind another story I highlighted to over 2 years ago when there was discussion over whether Tom Cruise should sue the makers of South Park for suggesting he was gay. In an essay written in 2005 Julie Hilden raised two questions: could Cruise sue for defamation? (Yes), should he? (No). As Hilden succinctly puts it "Perhaps a straight person's being falsely considered gay should remain an eye-opener [to prejudice], and cease to be a tort." Cruise's claim (through a spokesperson) that he "that is a great respecter of homosexual rights, but he's not gay, and he's ready to prove this in court." was unwise; if it's a matter of offence, of tort, then perhaps the respect is not as great as it should be. It is I think probably clear where I'm going with this but Hilden's essay ties in effortlessly into the "Obama is a Muslim" story. Hilden writes:

Imagine a white person in the Jim Crow South suing to counter rumors that he was hiding African-American ancestry, and the problem with such a claim becomes plain: The purpose of the claim is to restore the plaintiff to a prior, undeserved position of societal privilege, so he can avoid the maltreatment, racism -- and if he is a racist himself, the shame -- that he would otherwise suffer. The claim itself, then, rests on a malicious societal hierarchy.

This brings us neatly to the "Obama is a Muslim" charge and Obama's dilemma: how to respond. On the African-American ancestry gig Obama is probably safe - the secret is out, he's black. But what is behind the Muslim charge? The same, I suspect, as that which affected JFK taking orders from the Vatican only now it's "the terrorists" (they're all the same don't you know). I have been disappointed with Obama's response although given how rumour irrespective of substance hijacked Clinton's second term, together with Kerry's campaign four years ago then assuming the aim of an election is to win (I have questioned this) I would probably have suggested the same course of action. The Obama campaign's response to such charges can be found on the (campaign endorsed) website Fight the Smears. The response, all 67 words of it, is as follows:

Barack Obama is a committed Christian. He was sworn into the Senate on his family Bible. He has regularly attended church with his wife and daughters for years. But shameful, shadowy attackers have been lying about Barack’s religion, claiming he is a Muslim instead of a committed Christian. When people fabricate stories about someone’s faith to denigrate them politically, that’s an attack on people of all faiths.

So, the truth is known. Not only that Obama is not a Muslim but the "malicious social hierarchy" remains intact. They may as well have gone the whole way and said "of course he's not a Muslim, that's just silly - he's running for President, what the hell sort of country is it you think we're running - a democracy?". Personally I think some affirmative action is in order or, at the least we take some advice from Spartacus. So here goes ... Hi, my name's Richard and I'm a Muslim - how about you? Update: It looks like a certain Episcopal priest is already ahead of me on this (HT The Lead).