<p>What is funny is apparently two different staffers did similar things in separate incidents at that rally. The word had to have come down from somewhere in the campaign, local or otherwise.</p>
<p>the level of volunteer who seats the audience is incredibly low,and far removed from what Obama has minute by minute control over .S was approached in SC by Huckabee’s volunteers and almost dragged into a rally b/c they wanted young faces behind him.
Even in my supposedly sophisticated neck of the woods (suburban NYC) I am astonished by the people who continue to believe Obama is Muslim.I can’t imagine what image problems he needs to still overcome all over the USA.</p>
<p>I would expect that the volunteers thought they were " helping", as the attention given to Obamas middle name from the Republicians, ( Hussein) has been a distraction for some.
[Republicans</a> decry use of ‘Hussein’ in Obama’s name - CNN.com](<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/28/tennessee.gop/index.html]Republicans”>Republicans decry use of 'Hussein' in Obama's name - CNN.com)</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see if Obama puts muslims in his backdrop at his next speaking engagement. If so, then we will know he was actually sorry for the mishap. I am not counting on it happening, though.</p>
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<p>Just a side note to this. I have a co-worker who is a non-citizen immigrant from a Muslim country. Degrees from Harvard/Oxford. Beyond brilliant and educated. He says that there is, in his country and others, a perception among SOME Muslims that Senator Obama actually is a Muslim who has turned his back on the faith. The point being that if he (co-worker) were asked if Obama was Muslim, he wouldn’t give a yes or no answer.</p>
<p>re: post 17:</p>
<p>I wouldn’t expect the staffer to apologize since she clearly thought she was doing the right thing! But once the issue was brought to the attention of higher- ups with knowledge of the campaign’s policy, I would expect an apology–which took place.</p>
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<p>[Obama:</a> The head-scarf flap - First Read - msnbc.com](<a href=“http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/19/1154205.aspx]Obama:”>http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/19/1154205.aspx)</p>
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<p>You’ll be happy to learn it happened the very next day. From Politico, the same site that pushed this story: “An Obama aide also noted that the campaign has no policy against the candidate’s appearing with women in headscarves: The next morning at Wayne State University, Obama posed for a picture with a student wearing a hijab…Photographs from a Seattle rally earlier this year also clearly show a couple in Muslim clothes behind the candidate.”</p>
<p>The middle name of Hussein isn’t going anywhere and calling him Barack Hussein Obama is going to be just a prevalant as hearing Hillary Rodham Clinton. I’m not sure his middle name could be any worse from a PR point of view though. The connotation will lead people down the muslim path almost every time.</p>
<p>My point was there was no direct apology, on such a monumental gaffe, from Obama himself. At least not that I’ve seen or heard.</p>
<p>My in-laws are from affluent NJ, hard core dems and you cannot get them to believe in any fashion that he is not a MUSLIM…trust me Bullet and I have argued this to no end, there is no rational scenario that would make them accept or believe in Obama, and G*d forbid if Obama wins and we get hit again…I can hear them saying I told you he was…oh what a very sad day that will be on so many levels. We have a friend in VA that after 9-11 they were treated with stares and like lepers from strangers, the sad part is he was a bronze star recipient in Gulf I and served in the Army for 20 yrs. The strangers he was willing to give up his life for now saw him as a threat.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are ignorant people in this world, but what’s even worse is these people will be casting votes not on the platform, but on their own personal biases</p>
<p>This is not a monumental gaffe. Indeed, many of the people moaning about it would be happier if Obama denounced Islam as an evil religion and refused to have anything to do with Muslims.
I think it would be a mistake for Obama to abase himself every time a volunteer screws up, as long as the campaign apologized.</p>
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<p>I know Razorsharp, Pmrlcomm, and others are on the forefront of worrying about the discrimination suffered by Muslim Americans and I can see their concern is genuine.</p>
<p>As far as the campaign goes, they made a gaffe, there was an apology. I’ve already said as someone not affiliated with the campaign but supporting Obama, I can fully understand the impulse to not put a Muslim wearing a head scarf in a seat behind Obama. It would be used to back up the whisper campaign that he is a Muslim Manchurian Candidate.</p>
<p>I only have 1 question, if it was the minions who had no direction and took this under their own direction, why was it 2 different volunteers?</p>
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<p>The odds of 2 volunteers having both the same opinion, seems high to me. What I find even more interesting is the following comments:</p>
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<p>Minions will be minions, but they are given marching orders and directions to follow. I have not been to an Obama rally, but I am guessing there are more than 2 volunteers selecting people for special seating, and I am guessing they are given direction on what type of person to look for in the crowd, otherwise why did the volunteer ask if they were dressed the same and looked the same? If they were picking out people just to sit there then their dress or appearance would not matter…and yes, I do understand well you don’t want someone wearing a McCAin for pres behind him, but that wouldn’t have caused the flap it is causing him now.</p>
<p>His problem right now is to figure out how to get this monkey off his back. If they were placed on the stage it would be…ooohh see he is a Muslim, now he doesn’t and Muslims feel slighted, or my favorite is he insulted them on purpose to prove he isn’t a Muslim. All too frightening on how he can’t ever win on the religious issue</p>
<p>As usual, the subtle and the not so subtle right wing Karl Rove disciples continue to make this an issue not for reasons other than to keep labeling Obama. Rational discussions be damned.</p>
<p>^^ Said the pot to the kettle . . .</p>
<p>Volunteers not understanding the problem presented by placing Muslims behind him would have to be idiots. Anyone who knows anything about the campaign would get that - not hard to believe that there would be separate incidents. The deck is always stacked in these photo opps. This is nuts and bolts stuff for volunteers. Maybe the Republicans sent the women in to see what would happen - part of the vast right wing conspiracy. That’s it!!</p>
<p>B and P, since there are apparently myriad examples of women with headscarves posed behind Obama, your charge that it is policy they were following seems farfetched.</p>
<p>Of course, arguments like this draw those pictures out, leading for more chances to convince your MIL that Obama is a Muslim and thus a terrorist. Which I assume is the point of reporting on it and then posting on it.</p>
<p>When I do a search for “Obama & Muslims” ,
I get
[“Muslim” issue resurfaces for Obama](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004077664_obama17.html”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004077664_obama17.html</a>)
&
[Muslims</a> for Barack Obama '08](<a href=“http://www.muslimsforobama08.com/]Muslims”>http://www.muslimsforobama08.com/)</p>
<p>" McCain & Muslims"
[John</a> McCain on Islam, Mormonism, America as a Christian nation](<a href=“http://www.beliefnet.com/story/220/story_22001_1.html]John”>John McCain on Islam, Mormonism, America as a Christian nation, his move from an Episcopal to Baptist church - Beliefnet)
and
[The</a> American Muslim (TAM)](<a href=“The American Muslim (TAM)”>The American Muslim (TAM))</p>
<p>Islam is one of the fastest growing religions worldwide, if not " the fastest".
The difference between the candidates regarding freedom of /from, religion is an issue I would like to see addressed in this campaign
[Religious</a> identification in the U.S.](<a href=“http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm]Religious”>http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm)</p>
<p>I agree zoosermom…does the name Donna Brazille mean anything?</p>
<p>Also padad if you are implying I am a Rove disciple, than you are wrong. Do I think he is a pro in the game? Yes, I do, but so is Begala, Carville, McCauliffe, and many more people. They get paid the big bucks b/c of it.</p>
<p>Am I saying anything that has been stated before?</p>
<p>If you believe that minions act on their own accord and do not have directions from any staff member than I have a lovely piece of land in Florida to sell you, it might be a little wet, but you get to see lovely natural habitat!</p>
<p>I will agree the minions that we speak of have gotten orders from someone else who received orders who received orders from someone else…just like the telephone game we played. Yet, let’s be honest this is for the President of the United States, I am sure the rallies are run differently than they are for your City Councilperson. Bill Clinto was in our hometown several months ago, and there was a huge spread about it. This is a small town, it explained how long their advance team was in contact with the police and the school (our HS was where he spoke), they discussed in the paper before his arrival how the city was in constant communication with Hillary’s advance team and when they showed up, how they determined that it would be at this site, if you wanted to volunteer for the event what you needed to do. With all of these facts, am I to believe that Obama’s people operate differently? If it was the minions decision, than I am even more frightened for this country because his minions are racists towards Muslims…2 different volunteers both acting the same!</p>
<p>I am willing to believe that there was a higher-level minion that told these minions to be careful about who was sitting behind Obama. I do not believe that anybody high up in the campaign would be stupid enough to say that obvious Muslims should be kept out of the picture. They might desire it, but they wouldn’t say it.
Edited to add: did anyone else get the auto-ad promoting Beautiful Muslim Singles for Matrimony, showing a woman with a headscarf? Those Google ads are amazing!</p>
<p>^^^I noticed the ad too. To pop up on a parent caf</p>