I am particularly concerned about the time when a McCain supporter told McCain that she does not trust Obama because he is an Arab. To that McCain refuted that Obama isn’t and that he is a decent, family man.
What struck me is not so much the insensitivity of the question but McCain’s answers. McCain seemingly suggested that Arabs aren’t decent family men.
Colin Powell recently gave Obama his endorsement. Powell remarked the accusations of Obama being a Muslim.:
Powell: I’m also troubled by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the party say, and it is permitted to be said such things as: “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is: he is not a Muslim. He’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian.
But the really right answer is: What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is: No, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she can be President?
Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion: he’s a Muslim, and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
He’s right. So what if Obama is a muslim? Does it make the president less American? Whatever happened to liberty? Wasn’t it stated in the Bill of Rights that all men are entitled to exercise religion of their choice?
