Defending Obama Against Scurrilous Myths!

I thought that it would be useful for me to outline a list of responses to the most common myths about Obama which are being circulated on the internet and cable TV (most notably the Fox News Channel) and which portray him as un-American. For many of us these are just stupid racist lies, but since they have the power to grow into Obama's own Swift-boat problem (remember Kerry?), I think it is essential that we know how to respond to every single one of them with facts. So here there are:

1) Lie: Obama is a Muslim.
Fact: Barack Obama is NOT a Muslim. His father was an agnostic who flirted with all sorts of religions, including Islam, but then he gave that up as well. Barack saw his father only once when he was 10 years old, and never again after that. He was brought up in a Christian household by his white grandparents. He himself was an agnostic and never a Muslim, until he was 26 when he was BAPTIZED as a CHRISTIAN! The fact that he has African names should be celebrated not condemned, and for those who condemn him just for his names do not embrace American values. He NEVER attended a Muslim school in Jakarta, Indonesia. The school Dasar Negeri Besuki has always been a public school. Indonesian embassy confirmed this in a letter from Indonesian ambassador to Obama on 1/25/07), and CNN's own investigative team visited the school and proved that this has always been a multiconfenssional public school. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-kPCCog0BY)

2) Lie: Obama doesn't wear a flag-pin or swear pledge of allegiance to the flag and therefore he is unpatriotic.
Fact: Obama has led the United States Senate in pledge of allegiance and had his right hand firmly on his heart. You can watch the video here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/patriot. Also, questioning his patriotism by focusing on how he stands to observe the national anthem and how he doesn't wear a flag pin (he does now by the way) is really avoiding the substance of his proposals. In his speeches and policy proposals Barack wants to make America stronger by embracing its values of diversity, and improving its image in the world. Bush wears a flag pin so does Cheney and how have they contributed to America's strength and image? So, pure symbols don't mean much if they are not backed by actions.

3) Lie: Michelle Obama is unpatriotic.
Fact: Michelle's story could not be more American. She grew up in a poverty-stricken household on South Side Chicago and faced daily reminder that black people are less of human beings. But yet, she succeeded precisely because she embraced the American dream. She went to Princeton and got a law degree and was a top student in her class. So for her to say she has not been proud of her country is completely understandable in my mind. This is the country which condemned Martin Luther King as a traitor and un-American while he was alive. It was only years after his assassination that he was truly embraced. So she has every right to question America, and as such, would be a powerful first lady.

3) Lie: Obama agrees with Reverend Wright's anti-American statements.
Fact: Reverend Wright was NOT Obama's mentor, but his pastor. Despite Obama's close relationship to the Reverend he, by no means, shares all of his views. Reverend Wright leads the biggest black church on the South Side. The Church has been an enermous influence in the lives of millions and has led incredibly successful programs for improving the lives of the poor and those affected with AIDS. Reverend Wright is a marine who fought for the country. He was NOT Obama's mentor, but his pastor. Obama listened to his speeches, most of which focused on personal salvation through community work, and while he may have heard things he disagreed with, this does not mean he embraces these things. Also, if you want to make it as a black man in Chicago politics, you HAVE to work with powerful Reverends. Reverend Wright espouses black liberation theology, which was a powerful tool in Latin America for resiting the Catholic church and its opression of black majorities by white minorities (like in El Salvador). Barack never said he fully embraces this ideology but rather that this was one of many doctrines he has studied while a student. He also studied Marxism (like us), and does that make him a Marxist?

4) Lie: In his speech on race in Philadelphia he "sacrificed" his white grandmother in defending Reverend Wright.
Fact: This is the most scurrilous, cruelest and stupidest lie I have come across. Barack's grandmother Madelyn Dunham has been his best friend who raised him since he was 2! His white grandparents sacrificed much (including having a house) and lived in a small apartment in Hawaii in order to send him to Punhao school, which is an elite college prep school in Hawaii. Anyone who read his memoir knows the close and moving relationship he has always had with his grandma. In his victory speech in Minnesota he dedicated this night to his grandmother. And of course she harbored racial stereotypes in the 1960s and 1970s. She grew up in Kansas when interracial marriage was a crime. But she is still a part of Obama's genetic make up. This is exactly what he is about. Anyone who saw that speech and many others Obama gave knows this, but then again these myths are propagated by those who have never read or watched anything Obama has ever uttered and that did not neatly fit into their racist views of Obama as the Other.

5) Lie: Barack Obama is anti-Israel and anti-Semitic.
Fact: He has repeatedly said he would defend Israel and has called for immediate and unconditional diplomacy to bring that awful war to an end and to achieve a two-state solution with Israel and Palestine living side by side. He has never ever embraced the hateful ideology of Louis Farakhan. And the fact that his reverend Wright met with Mommar Gaddafi tells us nothing. It was not Obama who met with him! And even if he had, he would have been following the policy of Tony Blair (who invited Gaddafi to an EU summit), and many other European leaders as well as Americans who have met with him as US normalized its relations with Libya.

6) Lie: Obama would endanger the security of the US by meeting with leaders of rogue states. Fact: What Barack has proposed is simply to follow the great tradition of American foreign policy where we talk to our friends and enemies alike. Diplomacy is not about resolving issues between friends, but rather between enemies. Following this absurd "logic", Nixon can be classified as anti-American because he met with Mao Tsedung, Kennedy met with Khruschev (a meeting that later resulted in the ability of both leaders to pull away from the brink of a nuclear war). Even the US Secretary of Defense Gates has called for active engagement with Iran in negotiating a solution to the Iraqi civil war. Collin Powell has also been supportive of this. Talking to our enemies through tough principled diplomacy has a better shot of achieving peace and securing this country than Bush's "war on terror" which has enabled Iran to become the most powerful Mideast country, has put Hamas in power in Gaza (despite calls to Bush not to have elections, and then once they did elect Hamas, he isolated them pushing the region as far away from peace than ever before).

These are the 6 most oft-repeated lies I have encountered. If you encounter anymore, please email me or post them on my blog so I can research them and post a response.