Bush Was Friendly to Muslims, Too: the Obama Team's Response
By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
Over at Hot Air, Ed Morrissey accuses the news media of giving President Obama much too much credit for reinventing the U.S. posture toward the Muslim world on his trip to Turkey. Morrissey inventories Bush's many Muslim-friendly statements and argues that "Bush emphasized friendship with Muslims from the very start of the war [on terror]."
I just hung up with a senior Obama administration official who argued that Bush projects like Iraq and Guantánamo—and missteps like Abu Ghraib—undermined his stated warmth for the Islamic world. Obama's initial opposition to the Iraq war and his early executive orders banning torture and closing Gitmo, this official says, make Obama's public diplomacy in Turkey a lot more credible.
"It's the concrete actions that signal to the world a very different approach," the official says. "It's not a question of how many statements you can find the Bush administration making that it was not at war with Muslims. The perception was there, and a number of its actions seemed to reinforce that."
I also spoke this morning with Dailia Mogahed, chief of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. Mogahed is one of the new members of Obama's Advisory Council on Neighborhood and Faith-Based Partnerships. She says that Bush's positive talk about Muslims was undercut by his use of terms like "Islamic fascism." "There was such a double message from the Bush administration," she says. "Because the Obama team has been managing the message much more coherently, it's easier to believe it. There are not contradictory messages."
The Obama official also says that the president is still planning to deliver a separate "Muslim speech" in Muslim majority country sometime in his first 100 days. Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia were mentioned as possible venues.
- Read more by Dan Gilgoff.
- Read more about the Obama administration.
Tags: religion | Islam | Bush administration | foreign policy | Obama administration
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Reader Comments
Obama and America
I can't help but wonder what sane, intelligent people are thinking when they listen to Mr. Obama. He is trying to get his popularity at the expense of Mr.Bush. How is that? He clearly presents Mr. Bush has a "failure" by changing the moral laws that were upheld by Mr. Bush and others for the "majority" without those values. "What a good, good boy am I". He is trying too hard to change "the good" America and it must backfire..wait and see. Sure he has a Muslim background and beliefs. You can't be both Christian and Muslim. A Christian is a believing follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and Muslims are followers of Muhammed. He is either one or the other. America is never going to be represented as the county founded on the precious Word of God. In Obama's effort to win the world, he is progressively destroying America. Is that what the American people really voted for?
THe Pandering President
The only thing that team Obama is doing is pandering to every fringe group that opens it's mouth and makes some noise.
I could careless if the Muslims "like" America or not. It is amazing to me how soon we Americans forget: The bombing in Beirut, the Cole, Embassy’s across the world, and the World Trade Center (Twice). How many of these attacks were executed by Muslins? Answer, All.
Even though we Americans have been in denial for the last 30 years, we have been at war with the extreme Muslin believers. The only thing that they care about is their belief. Life, Liberty, and human life are of little concern to them. Talking to them, making deals with them , and pandering to them will only cause more Americans to be killed. And every American death will be on President Obama, no one else.
obama and islam
This world is interconnected by technology and it has become an instant voyeur of news within seconds. Having stated this well known fact, President Obama and his administration have done a world of good to achieve world peace. What we dont realize is that radical islamic views seem to dismiss all human life. They do suicide missions and give the poor family of the person who committed the suicide a little money for their loss. They don't care about humans be they muslims or others. Their stated goal seems to be domination and spread of their sick views. Thank you President Obama for attempting to reach out to the moderate muslims.
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