He's a Muslim! So?

Ellis Cose in Newsweek responds to the growing belief in the lie that Obama is a Muslim at heart. That it's growing is shown by survey respondents who claim that has risen from 10% to 12% over the last few months. Cose says it is working because of the popular view that all Muslims are terrorists and while it isn't acceptable to be a race bigot, it is still widely acceptable to express your bigotry against Muslims. Declare Obama to be a Muslim and you don't have to play the race angle. When asked about what they are doing to counter that viral email threat, the Obama campaign said they are working to highlight the candidate's Christian credentials. Cose says that while that may be a short term solution (and perhaps not all that effective) the real effort should be in saying, "So what if he's a Muslim?"

Jacob Weisberg in Newsweek examines Obama's missing 10 point lead. Bush's legacy, McCain's desire for a bridge to the early 20th Century, and Obama's crack campaign staff should put Obama way out in front rather than tied with McCain. What gives? Weisberg says the answer is simple: race. He lists how race is being distorted by some to make the bigotry more palatable (remember our discomfort isn't because he's Hawaiian). And in some cases the racial angle is isn't hidden at all.

An Obama win may mean we have finally reached a post-racial America (in spite of some die-hards). But an Obama loss means:

"our children will grow up thinking of equal opportunity as a myth. His defeat would say that when handed a perfectly good opportunity to put the worst part of our history behind us, we chose not to. In this event, the world's judgment will be severe and inescapable: the United States had its day, but in the end couldn't put its own self-interest ahead of its crazy irrationality over race."