Ye Gods!

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Obama cancels trip because Americans can’t tell Sikhs from MuslimsOctober 21, 2010 – 12:40 pm
Kelly McParland

Obama cancels trip because Americans can’t tell Sikhs from Muslims | Full Comment | National Post

I’m pretty sure this isn’t a hoax.

Ever since Barack Obama threw himself into the running for President, he’s been plagued by rumors that he is secretly a Muslim. White House officials have thus decided to stop President Obama from visiting the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, over concerns that such a visit would strengthen beliefs that he is a secret Muslim.

The temple, which is called Harmandir Sahib, is the spiritual center of the Sikh religion and is one of India’s most popular tourist destinations. It was scheduled to be the third stop on Obama’s visit to India next month.

If President Obama had gone, Sikh tradition would have required him to cover his head before entering the temple.
In the United States, Sikhs have been mistaken for Muslims and have on occasion been the target of anti-Muslim discrimination and violence.

The Sikh religion includes elements of Hinduism and Islam, but is a distinct faith of its own.

Let’s recap.

The President of the United States has cancelled a visit to a Sikh holy site because Americans are too clueless to understand the difference between Sikhs and Muslims, and might get alarmed when they see photos of Obama with a cloth on his head.

He could wear a cowboy hat and they wouldn’t get upset. He could probably turn up for a cabinet meeting in a Pittsburgh Steelers helmet and only get criticized for picking one team over another. He could wear his ball cap backwards and turn up with plugs in his ears, and people would just ask what he was listening to.

But a cloth? Jesus Martha they were right … the guy’s a Muslim!

The Sikhs in Amritsar must be beside themselves. They were really worked up about the visit:

‘It’s really a dream come true moment,’ Rajwant Singh, chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education

This is absolutely a joyous moment for Sikhs not just in America but all over the world,’ he said. ‘I have been receiving scores of e-mails and calls from not only all across America but from also people in Punjab and Delhi and everywhere – even from Australia and the Middle East!’

Now Singh has to go back to them all and explain that Obama changed his mind, because when Americans see a cloth on someone’s head they think “insane Islamic jihadi killer.” Any poor uneducated Sikh may understand the difference between Hindu, Islam and Sikhism, but your average U.S. voter? Forget it.

This bodes ill for other Obama visits. Now he can’t go to Graceland, or Americans will think he’s Elvis. (I told ya he was alive!). He can’t fly to London or they’ll think he’s the Queen. He can’t even visit Africa or they’ll think he’s Kunta Kinte, which would be doubly confusing because Kunta Kinte was from East Africa and everyone knows Obama was born in Kenya, which is where Hawaii was located at the time.

Maybe it’s a good thing he’s not going to the temple. Maybe he should stay home and work on that education thing.

National Post

Update: If Obama had declined the visit on the basis he didn’t want to look like a dufus, I could understand. But does this look like a Muslim to you?:


NARINDER NANU/AFP/Getty Images)
Prime Minister Stephen Harper visits the Golden Temple in Amritsar on November 18, 2009

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"Patriotism means being loyal to your country all the time and to its government when it deserves it."-- Mark Twain

"Inter arma silent Musae"--when the weapons speak, the muses fall silent.

An't nanum hearm deth, doth hwaet ye willath.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished
unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. -Voltaire

Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.36

I believe it because Obama has learned that he has zero ability to explain and defuse matters like this. He actually seems to have zero ability to get any message out at all. He makes speechs and stuff and it's like no one hears him. He is ignored. All he can do is dodge situations that give rise to criticism. He can't counter it.

Ralph Ellison famously explored this phenomena, but it's still an amazing transformation. Barak Obama has gone from superstar candidate to 'the invisible President.'

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now we know the truth.....Obama wasn't a Muslim, he's just been sick!

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Originally Posted by Benjamin

Ralph Ellison famously explored this phenomena, but it's still an amazing transformation. Barak Obama has gone from superstar candidate to 'the invisible President.'

So I had a quick skiming on Invisible Man, Ellison, and some of the articles linking that to Obama and I still don't see how it explains that Obama no longer seems to be able to impose his will on the public, let alone the legislature.

He certainly was a very visible candidate and all that stuff about stereotyping is bull. Anyone that's ever going to be famous/get elected has to stereotype himself/herself (if he/she is lucky and is not stereotyped by others) in order to create a simple narrative. GWB did the same. His was "I am that good ol' fashioned Texan cowboy with values, shootin' straight from the hip".

I kind of like Stratfor's explanation - US presidents are constitutionally strong on foreign affairs stuff and constitutionally weak on internal affairs stuff. Obama, by inclination and because he's got to deal with a major economic crisis, is trying to focus on the domestic side of things, thus necessarily bogging himself down in a quagmire worse than Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam put together...

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Stratfor makles a plausible point certainly, but I think an subconscious rejection of Brark Obama as president is also at work. The subconscious being what it is, one can even have voted for him and still have this happen once he actually has the office.

There are articles linking "the Invisible Man" to Obama? And here I thought that was my own invention....

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I suspect that it may also have something to do with the fact that the campaign basically created "Barack Obama" - even the famous change poster was a spontaneous contribution from a supporter.

Bush II had his brush clearance, Clinton had his sax (and yes, his sex), fair do's Bush I was something of a non-entity, Reagan had his acting career and Nancy... What does Obama do for fun? He's got this insane, unusual life story that doesn't seem to have provided him with any sort of personality.

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Obama is a community organizer, of the highly-educated sort. You ever meet one? No room for fun in his life. He's a man on a mission, and he's serious. Always. 24/7.

The personality? He's a super-wonk. Emotionally, he'd love to be a ideological revolutionary, but he's too rational and he knows better. He has therefore settled for being a liberal reformer. And he's knows he's settled for less, so he's compensating by trying very hard to be a big, big, serious liberal reformer.

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"Neither man nor nation can exist without a sublime idea."
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1821 - 1881
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Ben, that may be the best succinct profile of Obama I've ever seen.