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The 2008 Elections:
The Emergence of American Muslims in the
American Story
Category: Politics
Posted: Sunday, November 30, 2008
Anas Coburn
In the national discussion that was the 2008 Presidential Election campaign, Muslims and Islam were significant themes. As one might expect in a media-saturated society, what mattered was not Muslims and Islam themselves, but rather the ways in which “Muslims” and “Islam” could be portrayed, the extent to which these terms might be forged into simplistic tropes that could be wielded to conjure fear of the Other. American Muslims demonstrated a new level of political maturity as they engaged the spectacle of the campaign as it unfolded. While the climate of Islamophobia made it prudent for Muslims to keep a low profile in their participation in the campaign process, participate they did, many for the first time, and many in ways not previously seen in the American Muslim community. Muslim perspectives on some of the notable events, reporting, and commentary that occurred during the campaign are gathered here. Together they may be viewed as part of the emerging narrative of how American Muslims are becoming a part of the American Story.
In the early part of the campaign, many American Muslims supported Ron Paul. Dr. Paul took positions very much in tune with the thinking of many American Muslims. An endorsement from Sister Najda that appeared on AltMuslim concluded:
I want a candidate who has no desire to go adventuring in other countries; who will actually follow the Constitution; and has the good sense to keep the federal government out of matters of religion locally and internationally. I also want one who recognizes that it is in the US interests to be energy self sufficient; that so called “globalization” has been a disaster for many peoples; that there is a transition period from fossil fuels; and who is willing to take bold steps to disentangle the US government from US corporations by eliminating corporate welfare via military force to protect corporate interests, eliminating the use of tax money to subsidize cheap labor. And right now, the only one on that page is Ron Paul.
Dr. Paul’s status as the only candidate that took a non-interventionist position in foreign affairs, spoke forcefully about the dangerous accumulation of power in the executive branch, and was not enamored of Israel never changed. His candidacy enjoyed far more success than the pundits expected. The most compelling reason advanced among American Muslims not to support Ron Paul was that he was not a viable candidate. See Ali Eteraz’ essay on AltMuslim here.
American Muslims were also excited by the candidacy of Barack Obama. As the media hype surrounding him and his campaign built, Imam Zaid Shakir cautioned that, “the election of an African American, or a woman for that matter, without an associated ‘revolution of values’ will do no more than possibly delay, but will not stave off, this country’s inevitable spiritual demise.”
As the presidential campaign progressed, Barack Obama was openly targeted by a campaign suggesting that he is a secret Muslim. Instead of reacting forcefully to the bigotry, journalists often accepted that there was something bad about being a Muslim, by calling it a “smear,” and “unsubstantiated charge,” or “nasty and false attacks.”
Third parties with an interest in seeing Obama defeated also got in on the act, with the free distribution of 28 million copies of a DVD called “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War with the West” in 13 key election battleground states seven weeks before the elections. When CAIR filed a Federal Elections Commission complaint, the internet lit up with denunciations from right-wing, pro-Israel groups. One of the most thoughtful responses to the whole affair came from Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia. Rabbi Waskow issued a vigorous call to speak out against the DVD, and “Above all, do not leave the defense of Islam's dignity and honor to Muslims alone. Christians and Jews must make clear that their own celebration of the One affirms the diversity that alone can express the Infinite.” (For Rabbi Waskow’s full article, look here.)
As commentator Zahed Amanullah put it “President-elect Barack Obama has endured the most sustained and aggressive onslaught of anti-Muslim hysteria ever foisted on the American public. So have American Muslims.”
But for Muslims, a turning point in the public perception of Muslims and Islam came within the context of General Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama. It came in an appearance on Meet The Press on Oct. 19, 2008. Powell said in part:
“I am also troubled by, not what Senator 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's no, that's not America.”
American Muslims, meanwhile, were quietly organizing at the grassroots level to support the candidate of their choice. They demonstrated a nuanced understanding of the political reality that too vocal support of a candidate by Muslims might not be in the candidate’s interest. Firas Ahmed called attention to “Our Obama Problem” back in February. He commented that “Obama's lack of public defense of Islam is not so much an indictment against him as it is a demonstration of the infantile state of Muslim political participation in America.” Hazem Kira made the argument that American Muslims have made progress in the political arena, that there is a meaningful way to move forward, and exhorted the Muslim community to develop the “culture of the active citizen.”
As the campaign moved into the Summer, there was fall-out from the involvement of Muslims. In June, an Obama campaign volunteer asked two Muslim women wearing headscarves to move from their position at an event so that they would not show up behind Obama in a camera shot. Obama later called and apologized to the women, but not before being confronted by Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison behind closed at a meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus. Chicago attorney Mazen Asbahi was forced to resign as Barack Obama's Muslim outreach advisor because of what was described as “guilt by insinuation.” Dr. Sherman Jackson pointed out that this kind of tactic is only effective because of a lack of what Justice Felix Frankfurter called “a binding tie of cohesive sentiment,” understood in many of the social sciences as “social capital.”
In the vote itself, according to Newsweek, Muslims voted overwhelmingly Democratic. Shahed Amanullah, a Democratic-leaning American Muslim, summarized lessons learned from the campaign. He pointed out that “as everyday Muslim-Americans take their political destiny into their own hands, they find a degree of success that wasn't possible with top-down organizing.”
Imam Zaid Shakir, who had been critical of Obama during the campaign, expressed the hopes of many American Muslims on the day following the election:
[T]he coalition of forces that has come together to guarantee Senator Obama’s victory represents a powerful realignment in American politics; sincere whites who were feed up with the corruption, venality, and mendacity of the cabal in Washington, young people of all ages and races (the hip hop generation), a re-energized African American electorate, progressive Latinos, particularly in Florida and the Southwest of the country, and Muslims, yes Muslims, many of whom worked just as doggedly as Senator Obama’s other supporters, despite the stigmatizing of their faith and themselves in many instances. ... The nature of Senator Obama’s victory opens up a tremendous door of opportunity for Muslims. Now is the time for us to unify our ranks and to take advantage of the spirit of change that has dominated this electoral season to work for meaningful change in the policies of this country towards both the Muslim world and the developing world in general. If we can organize our community, harness the creative power and intellect of our youth, end the historical tendency of our community to shy away from public service, and create a viable agenda that moves away from the zero-sum, seemingly escapist political ranting that so many of us have inclined towards in the past, then perhaps we will begin as American Muslims to make our own history, in a constructive way, as opposed to sitting passively on the sidelines as others make their history and create painful facts that are so detrimental to our interests and the lives of our coreligionists and other oppressed people both here and abroad.