Ever read something that just made you rub your temples and pray that something is just a horrible practical joke?
Barack Obama in an interview with Laura Haim on Canal Plus, a French television station:
“And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."
Remember during the primaries and the election campaign where uttering things about Obama's Muslim roots was considered slander by Team Obama and his supporters.
Not now, now he embraces those Muslim roots.
Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller, ABC's Political Punch:
The other day we heard a comment from a White House aide that never would have been uttered during the primaries or general election campaign.
During a conference call in preparation for President Obama's trip to Cairo, Egypt, where he will address the Muslim world, deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Denis McDonough said "the President himself experienced Islam on three continents before he was able to -- or before he's been able to visit, really, the heart of the Islamic world -- you know, growing up in Indonesia, having a Muslim father -- obviously Muslim Americans (are) a key part of Illinois and Chicago."
Given widespread unease and prejudice against Muslims among Americans, especially in the wake of 9/11, the Obama campaign was perhaps understandably very sensitive during the primaries and general election to downplay the candidate's Muslim roots.
The candidate was even offended when referred to by his initials "BHO," because he considered the use of his middle name, "Hussein," an attempt to frighten voters.
Read the whole article.
Toby Harnden, U.S. Editor of the Telegraph UK:
It is important to note that "if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world".
So says President Barack Obama. Or I should say: Barack Hussein Obama.
That's right: Barack Hussein Obama. Say it proud. Say it out loud. The middle moniker that dared not speak its name during the election campaign is now front and centre of the US president's attempt to woo the Muslim world, the theme of his visits to Riyadh on Wednesday and Cairo on Thursday.
Petrified of the potential political fallout of being branded a Muslim, Candidate Obama - a practicing Christian - never used the name "Hussein" and its use was frowned upon as a forbidden code for the nutty accusation that he was some kind of Islamic Manchurian candidate.
No more. To say Barack Hussein Obama - BHO for short - now appears to be the height of political correctness.
On Obama's Apologize for America tour, many noticed that Barack Obama seem far less concerned with what Americans thought, than he did what other countries thought as he went from one to the other apologizing for America at every turn.
Once again, Obama's words are meant for others and he shows a complete lack of concern for how the people of America, the people HE is supposed to represent feel.
CNN Poll: "Many Americans hold unfavorable view of Muslim world"
Hours before President Barack Obama departs for a trip to the Middle East, a new national poll suggests that only one in five Americans has a favorable view of Muslim countries.
That compares to 46 percent of the people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey who say they have an unfavorable opinion of Muslim countries. That's up five points from 2002, when 41 percent indicated they had an unfavorable view.
Three in ten meanwhile say they have a neutral opinion of Muslim countries.
The poll also suggests that most Americans think people in Muslim countries don't think highly of the United States. Nearly eight in ten questioned say people in Muslim countries have a unfavorable opinion of the U.S., with 14 percent saying Muslims hold a favorable view.
But the poll indicates Americans seem to be split on whether such negative opinions by Muslims matter. Fifty-three percent of those questioned say they think Muslim views of the U.S. matter a great deal or a moderate amount, with 47 percent saying that Muslim opinions of the U.S. don't matter very much or at all.
The poll's release comes just hours before the president flies to Saudi Arabia for meetings with King Abdullah. Following the stop in Saudi Arabia, Obama heads to Egypt, where Thursday he'll deliver a long-awaited speech on relations between the United States and the Muslim world. At a town hall in Turkey earlier this year, the president delcared that "the United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam."
Americans seem to agree with the president: 62 percent of those surveyed say they don't think the U.S. is at war with the Muslim world, with 36 percent indicating that the country is at war with Muslim countries. Those numbers have remained stable since CNN's 2002 poll.
But the poll suggests that six out of ten think that the Muslim world considers itself at war with the U.S.
Here is the White House link to the whole interview.
Jihad Watch points out the incorrect information Obama spewed in that interview:
Indonesia: 200 million Muslims. India: 156 million Muslims. Pakistan: 150 million Muslims.
United States: 2.3 million Muslims (according to the Pew Research Center).
Unfreakingreal.
This is going to be an awful long 3 1/2 years and counting down.
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