Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Obama: "My Muslim Faith"
By now, probably everyone who's interested has seen the clip of Obama's interview with George Stephanopoulus on ABC TV last Sunday, in which he refers to "my Muslim faith."
In context, it's clear that he is admitting that McCain himself has never said, or even intimated, that Obama is a Muslim. However, I think his use of the particular phraseology reveals something about Obama's mindset, although I'm not sure what.
For example, if I were being interviewed on that subject, I expect I would make the point more directly, as in, "... you're absolutely right that John McCain has not said I'm a Muslim ...," as opposed to what Obama said: "... you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith ...." Maybe it's that Harvard Law education coming out--you know, being able to argue all sides of an issue and all.
As many others have pointed out, when he's away from the Teleprompter, Obama is as prone to verbal gaffes as President Bush, or maybe even Sen. Dan "Potatoe" Quayle. But you don't see skits on SNL about his misstatements, and you don't see snarky opinon columns in the likes of the New York Times, the Washington Post or Newsweek. I agree with many others that such verbal missteps by McCain or Palin would be discussed for days as evidence of their unfitness for office, their lack of intelligence, their inability to communicate, their stupidity or their true evil nature. (Don't believe me? Look what they've said about Bush.) This whole episode says a lot more about the media than it does about Mr. Obama.
In context, it's clear that he is admitting that McCain himself has never said, or even intimated, that Obama is a Muslim. However, I think his use of the particular phraseology reveals something about Obama's mindset, although I'm not sure what.
For example, if I were being interviewed on that subject, I expect I would make the point more directly, as in, "... you're absolutely right that John McCain has not said I'm a Muslim ...," as opposed to what Obama said: "... you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith ...." Maybe it's that Harvard Law education coming out--you know, being able to argue all sides of an issue and all.
As many others have pointed out, when he's away from the Teleprompter, Obama is as prone to verbal gaffes as President Bush, or maybe even Sen. Dan "Potatoe" Quayle. But you don't see skits on SNL about his misstatements, and you don't see snarky opinon columns in the likes of the New York Times, the Washington Post or Newsweek. I agree with many others that such verbal missteps by McCain or Palin would be discussed for days as evidence of their unfitness for office, their lack of intelligence, their inability to communicate, their stupidity or their true evil nature. (Don't believe me? Look what they've said about Bush.) This whole episode says a lot more about the media than it does about Mr. Obama.
Labels: media bias, Obama, religion
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