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Can Mr. Obama use his diverse background to build a better world?

| NEW YORK | RUPEE NEWS | May 19th, 2008 | Moin Ansari| Mr. Obama will be the Democratic Party’s first bi-racial or black candidate who has had a multireligious background. Barack Obama: USA 1st multiethnic multireligious president?

Many have tried to disparage Barack Obama with various disparaging remarks. It is really a great testament to America and the American people that despite all the negative publicity by the Neocons, he is the Democratic nominee. While he faces an uphill battle in racist states like West Virginia, Americans of all persuasions have voted for Mr. Obama rather then a tried and tested politician who as “co-resident” monitored almost a decade of peace and prosperity in America.

Bruce Riedel: Much of Pakistan’s problems originate in Afghanistan

• Bush & Obama both war mongers. Barack wants a different war
• If Obama had “listened” he could have learned something
• Is it McCain Guiliani, Lieberman vs Obama, Lugar & Biden
• Threats: Obama’s Kabul indoctrination: Venom against Pakistan
• Juan Cole: Obama is Saying the Wrong Things about Afghanistan
• A Shift Toward the Center (of Fascism)
• Democratic Barak Obama: The US War president
• Obama’s Afghan Iraq mirror images policies contradict each other
• Obama’s “Actionable Intelligence”-an excuse to attack Pakistan
• Obama threats kills Pakistani stock market. Billions lost. Foreign capital leaves in respone to Obama claptrap
• Obama blows hot and cold on Pakistan again!
• Threats: Obama’s Kabul indoctrination: Venom against Pakistan
• Obama’s mosque visit-Islam and Orientalist thought
• Can Obama use his diverse background to build a better world?

However, Americans are overwhelmingly voting for a man who is not like any other politician in America. Mr. Obama has a multiethnic background-half black and half white. He was born in Hawaii, and raised in Indonesia and the US. His mother worked for US AID in Pakistan and knew Urdu.

(bottom row, from left: half-sister Auma, her mother Kezia Obama, Obama’s step-grandmother Sarah Hussein Onyango Obama and unknown; top row, from left: unknown, Barack Obama, half-brother Abongo (Roy) Obama, and three unknowns.) “Barack Obama stands behind Kezia (stepmother) in a Kenyan family shot. Included in the photo is brother Abongo ‘Roy’ Obama who is a Luo activist and a militant Muslim who argues that the black man must ‘liberate himself from the poisoning influences of European culture’,” the Gateway Pundit wrote.

Whether Mr. Obama is a Muslim or not is a bone of contention for many. Many tried to over emphasize his middle name “Husain”. Others added “Muhammad” as part of his name. MUhammad is not part of his name. Some even claimed that he is hiding his Muslim background. Some fundamentalist Americans of the Christian right disingenuously tried to portrayhim as a “hidden Muslim”. On the other hand many fundamentalist Muslims consider him a heretic. Most Americans have rejected the fundamentalist Christian charge by overwhelmingly voting for him, and most Muslims have not supported him just because of his background and most have rejected the heretic charge. Most Muslims will vote or support him based on his record and his actions. His vote against the war in Iraq is a great plus for all Americans and for Muslims also.

To overcome the stigma and the charges, Mr. Obama may  be over cautious, and try to prove himself as anti-Muslim to keep his detractors at bay. His earlier statements can be categorized in this compartment. On the other hand his multi-ethnic background may assist him in understanding the complex issues of the world.

The worlds reaction is mixed. In Africa and many parts of the world he is a super hero. Middle Easterners and South Asian are hungry for an American president with a heart, and are hoping against hope that Mr. Obama may be that person. However most Muslim Americans are very cautious about him. Many have taken a wait and see attitude on Mr. Obama, waiting for his words and actions that define him.

As a candidate, Mr. Obama has made some naive and agressive statements about Pakistan. However recently he has shown more maturity and sagacity in discussing Pakistan.

Rupee News is not endorsing his candidacy at this time, but we are seriously considering him on this matter.

The Chicago Sun-Times (Sept 2007) published a story about Barak Obama’s family, with this family photo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFnQ50r_3eU

The Reality Bytes and Pieces blog has moreon Abongo “Roy” Obama, as does the Chicago Sun-Times here.

As Barack Obama’s candidacy comes under increasing scrutiny, his account of his religious upbringing deserves careful attention for what it tells us about the candidate’s integrity.Obama asserted in December, “I’ve always been a Christian,” and he has adamantly denied ever having been a Muslim. “The only connection I’ve had to Islam is that my grandfather on my father’s side came from that country [Kenya]. But I’ve never practiced Islam.”

In February, he claimed, “I have never been a Muslim…. other than my name and the fact that I lived in a populous Muslim country for four years when I was a child [Indonesia, 1967-71] I have very little connection to the Islamic religion.”

“Always” and “never” leave little room for equivocation. But many biographical facts, culled mainly from the American press, suggest that, when growing up, the Democratic candidate for president both saw himself and was seen as a Muslim.

• Obama’s Kenyan birth father: In Islam, religion passes from the father to the child. Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (1936-1982) was a Muslim who named his boy Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.

• Obama’s Indonesian family: His stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, was also a Muslim. In fact, as Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng explained to Jodi Kantor of The New York Times: “My whole family was Muslim, and most of the people I knew were Muslim.” An Indonesian publication, The Banjarmasin Post, reports a former classmate, Rony Amir, recalling that “All the relatives of Barry’s father were very devout Muslims.”

• Obama’s Catholic school in Jakarta: Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press reports that “documents showed he enrolled as a Muslim” while at a Catholic school during first through third grades. Kim Barker of The Chicago Tribune confirms that Obama was “listed as a Muslim on the registration form for the Catholic school.”

• The public school: Paul Watson of The Los Angeles Times learned from Indonesians familiar with Obama when he lived in Jakarta that he “was registered by his family as a Muslim at both schools he attended.” Haroon Siddiqui of The Toronto Star visited the Jakarta public school Obama attended and found that “Three of his teachers have said he was enrolled as a Muslim.” Although Siddiqui cautions that “With the school records missing, eaten by bugs, one has to rely on people’s shifting memories,” he cites only one retired teacher, Tine Hahiyari, retracting her earlier certainty about Obama’s being registered as a Muslim.

• Barack Obama’s public school in Jakarta, Koran class: In his autobiography, Dreams of My Father, Obama relates how he got into trouble for making faces during Koran studies. Indeed, Obama still retains knowledge from that class: Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times reports that Obama “recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them [to Kristof] with a first-rate accent.”

• Mosque attendance: Obama’s half-sister recalled that the family attended the mosque “for big communal events.” Watson learned from childhood friends that “Obama sometimes went to Friday prayers at the local mosque.” Barker found that “Obama occasionally followed his stepfather to the mosque for Friday prayers.” One Indonesia friend, Zulfin Adi, states that Obama “was Muslim. He went to the mosque. I remember him wearing a sarong” (a garment associated with Muslims).

• Piety: Obama himself says that while living in Indonesia, a Muslim country, he “didn’t practice [Islam].” Indonesians differ in their memories of him. One, Rony Amir, describes Obama as “previously quite religious in Islam.”

OBAMA’S HAVING been born and raised a Muslim and having left the faith to become a Christian make him neither more nor less qualified to become president of the United States. But if he was born and raised a Muslim and is now hiding that fact, this points to a major deceit, a fundamental misrepresentation about himself that has profound implications about his character and his suitability as president. The writer is director of the Middle East Forum and is the Taube/Diller distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. Dr. Daniel Pipes