Obama 'was educated in madrassa'

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Charles,

If his father tried to raise him as a Muslim and he is now a Christian, doesn't that make him an apostate? Bets on which cleric in the mad mad middle east is the first to put a fatwa on this guy?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Barack Obama was given a rude awakening to the cut-throat world of presidential politics yesterday after being accused of hiding four years in which he was educated at a madrassa when a teenager.

The claim, made in the conservative Insight magazine, also revealed the Machiavellian scheming of political activists in a presidential race still nearly two years away.

What a desperate ploy to pull at some Americans' fear of Muslims and their religion.

[William33 110]

What if it turns out that Obama concealed his years at a madrassa or his years as a Muslim? Would that change many peoples minds, in your opinion? Not him having attended one per se, but having attempted to draw attention away from the fact that he did.

Deception never helps. Although as Charles pointed out, it was not a game-ender for Clinton.

This issue will be much harder to overcome if proven true.

[Ban Hammer 13,678]

Charles,

If his father tried to raise him as a Muslim and he is now a Christian, doesn't that make him an apostate? Bets on which cleric in the mad mad middle east is the first to put a fatwa on this guy?

true. then they will really hate the president eh?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

This issue will be much harder to overcome if proven true.

I don't know. If he did attend a madrassa but isn't a crazy radical Islamist, I think that could help his candidacy at this particular juncture in history. But if he attended it and if people can be convinced he tried to hide the fact, that could hurt him.

[sparkofcreation 0]

F'ing liars.

Obama's memoirs clearly mention in a couple different places the fact that (because his family couldn't afford to send him to a posh international school) he went to the local public Muslim school when living in Indonesia. Actually, it says that during the four years he lived there, he went to a Catholic school for two years and a Muslim school for two. However, (1) not all Muslim schools are madrassas (Islam has nearly as many denominations as Christianity and madrassas are a specific type of school within a specific denomination) and (2) going to a Muslim school doesn't make one Muslim any more than going to Catholic school makes one Catholic8. Take that from someone whose Jewish ex-boyfriend went to Catholic school. And someone married to a man from a country where lots of atheists attend church schools.

In other words, (1) he did go to a Muslim school, (2) he clearly says so and explains why in his memoir, (3) going to a Muslim school doesn't make him Muslim. And (4) I'd rather have a moderate Muslim as president than a dominionist any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

The quotes are: from Dreams of my Father:

In Indonesia, I’d spent 2 years at a Muslim school, 2 years at a Catholic school. In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Koranic studies. In the Catholic school, when it came time to pray, I’d pretend to close my eyes, then peek around the room. Nothing happened. No angels descended.

From The Audacity of Hope:

Without the money to go to the international school that most expatriate children attended, I went to local Indonesian schools and ran the streets with the children of farmers, servants, tailors, and clerks.

[Caladan 19]

I think being worried that Obama is secretly a Muslim extremist is pretty stupid. I think it will sink his candidacy among only those who would have found other reasons not to vote for him, like his skin color or his name or that he's the anti-Christ because he is eloquent. (This may be a higher proportion of Americans than I find comforting.)

What if it turns out that Obama concealed his years at a madrassa or his years as a Muslim? Would that change many peoples minds, in your opinion? Not him having attended one per se, but having attempted to draw attention away from the fact that he did.

It's going to be pretty hard to make a case he concealed his years at a school when it's on page 47 of his publically published autobiography.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

This issue will be much harder to overcome if proven true.

I don't know. If he did attend a madrassa but isn't a crazy radical Islamist, I think that could help his candidacy at this particular juncture in history. But if he attended it and if people can be convinced he tried to hide the fact, that could hurt him.

If he had attended any parochial school, say from age 5 to 9 and didn't indicate that anywhere, is that hiding it? There's an awful lot of assumption when you first believe that omition means hiding something and second, that if in fact he wanted to keep that private that it was for political gain rather than personal privacy.

[Thingee 0]

I honestly see both Obama and Clinton as long shots. Vice presidential material maybe, but not the head honcho.

He's the wrong color and was at one point the wrong religion. I just don't see how someone with any Muslim heritage is going to get nominated at this point. Geez, it was only 40 odd years ago that a Catholic was elected. Sadly, I don't think the America is ready to see any person of color in the White House quite yet...give it another 15-20 years.

She's....well...she's Hilary. Everything her husband did(or got accused of) in office is going to come back and bite her in the butt. And as before, I don't think America is quite ready for a female in the oval office.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

... madrassas are a specific type of school within a specific denomination

Actually, that depends on which part of the Muslim world you're in. In India and Bangladesh, all Muslim theological schools are referred to as madrassas. Indonesian and Malaysian Islam tends to be more similar to the Islam practiced in South Asia than that of West Asia.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I think being worried that Obama is secretly a Muslim extremist is pretty stupid. I think it will sink his candidacy among only those who would have found other reasons not to vote for him, like his skin color or his name or that he's the anti-Christ because he is eloquent. (This may be a higher proportion of Americans than I find comforting.)

What if it turns out that Obama concealed his years at a madrassa or his years as a Muslim? Would that change many peoples minds, in your opinion? Not him having attended one per se, but having attempted to draw attention away from the fact that he did.

It's going to be pretty hard to make a case he concealed his years at a school when it's on page 47 of his publically published autobiography.

Right there, the scandal has just died!

[Caladan 19]

Oh, it's in two books. Dreams from My Father and the Audacity of Hope. Two publically published books.

Smear machines can make a campaign out of anything, but arguing that he concealed something he published.... well, McCain was sunk after insinuations his daughter was black...

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

If he had attended any parochial school, say from age 5 to 9 and didn't indicate that anywhere, is that hiding it?

It may or may not be. In the end, it's gonna come down to what enough people can be convinced of.

ps. Presidential candidates don't get the luxury of personal privacy anymore.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I honestly see both Obama and Clinton as long shots. Vice presidential material maybe, but not the head honcho.

He's the wrong color and was at one point the wrong religion. I just don't see how someone with any Muslim heritage is going to get nominated at this point. Geez, it was only 40 odd years ago that a Catholic was elected. Sadly, I don't think the America is ready to see any person of color in the White House quite yet...give it another 15-20 years.

She's....well...she's Hilary. Everything her husband did(or got accused of) in office is going to come back and bite her in the butt. And as before, I don't think America is quite ready for a female in the oval office.

Not the right time? When is the right time? How many other countries have already elected female leaders? I'd like to believe that America is not that azz backwards, but then I tend to be idealistic.

Edited January 20, 2007 by Steven_and_Jinky

[Thingee 0]

I don't disagree that it's past time it SHOULD happen...I just don't think it WILL.