Do You Care if Obama Attended a Madrassa?

I don't.

Published on January 22, 2007 By greywar In Politics

*Disclaimer : I do not support any candidates as of yet nor does Barack Obama's politics come anywhere near my own.

/rant on

So Barack Obama apparently attended a Madrassa in Indonesia for a few years as a young child. I could give a damn. Here is why:

- The guy verifiably went back to live with his maternal grandparents in Hawaii by age 10.

- Religious programming of any ilk works poorly without constant re-enforcement.

- He has shown zero inclination towards radicalism of any kind other than liberalism (not a problem).

All the talk show folks want me care about it because of one single reason:

- He lied about it for years.

Big hairy deal, I would have lied about it too if I wanted a career in American politics. Post 9/11 thrown in and it becomes something of a "no-shitter".

Bottom line is that what he did at his parents behest prior to age 10 shouldn't disqualify anyone from public service. Using this as an actual reason to disqualify him for anything at all is disingenuous and stupid. This guy is so secular that the suggestion that he is some sort of "closet Wahhabist" is ludicrous.

/rant off

Comments (Page 1)

Dr Guy

on Jan 22, 2007

Now who is digging up this dirt I wonder.

SanChonino

on Jan 22, 2007

Couldn't care less.

Gideon MacLeish

on Jan 22, 2007

OK, 'splain to me how Islam is a religion of peace (the DNC's official position), yet Obama attending a madrassa matters???

This is shameful politicking, and I'm seriously hoping it blows up in Hillary's face!

SanChonino

on Jan 22, 2007

I'm seriously hoping it blows up in Hillary's face!

Me too

greywar

on Jan 22, 2007

Now who is digging up this dirt I wonder.

Insight was reporting on Friday that Hillary had dispatched staffers to Indonesia to "get the dirt" on this particular madrassa. In other news, I still don't care.

bakerstreet

on Jan 22, 2007

I think the way people are talking about it also assumes that Madrassa=Radical. There are Christian schools that are wacko fundamentalist, and then there are Christian schools that you can barely differentiate from secular public schools. Given the age he would have been at the time, I don't think you would have seen the kind of radicalism you might find now, especially in Indonesia.

I have no doubt that they'll use Islamophobia against him. It's sad after the whole Harold Ford thing, because it will just seem to validate all the FALSE accusations of race and religion baiting. I think Obama isn't fit to lead, and I think his ideals are fundamentally flawed, but I also think that everything that we focus on that ISN'T flawed just serves his purpose and makes him a bleeding-heart martyr.

greywar

on Jan 22, 2007

I don't think you would have seen the kind of radicalism you might find now, especially in Indonesia.

I agree, and even if you had seen that sort of radicalism, it certainly didn't stick.

Zoologist03

on Jan 22, 2007

I didn't even know what the hell a Madrassa was until I clicked the link...still, my caring about it remains at 0.

~Zoo

cactoblasta

on Jan 22, 2007

Given the age he would have been at the time, I don't think you would have seen the kind of radicalism you might find now, especially in Indonesia.

Certainly not from a school with foreign students. Suharto was a vicious and efficient dictator. The Islamic factions were repeatedly crushed into the dirt from the moment he stepped into office until he finally succeeded in coopting them in the late '80s. So I wouldn't be too worried about the potential influence of madrassah training (it was probably a pesantren though, rather than a madrassah; madrassahs in Indonesia are the state-sponsored and state-curriculumed religious schools).

MasonM

on Jan 22, 2007

Dr Guy

on Jan 22, 2007

So I wouldn't be too worried about the potential influence of madrassah training

Psst! Cacto. None of us are. But the worlds most important woman thinks we should be.

SSG Geezer

on Jan 22, 2007

Caught this crapstorm on daily Kos. What cracked me up was the screaming from the kossacks about FOX news for talking about it. Not that Swillary had the research done.

Dr Guy

on Jan 22, 2007

What cracked me up was the screaming from the kossacks about FOX news for talking about it. Not that Swillary had the research done.

bakerstreet

on Jan 23, 2007

Anyone have a link to the Hillary part in more detail? Everywhere else on the Internet is spouting it as either a 2006 email effort or FoxNews' coverage of it.

The part that annoys me most is that Insight magazine only spends a few sentences talking about the Hillary side, and spends the rest talking about Obama. That makes it look like the Hillary thing is just an excuse to associate the words "Obama" and "Muslim" over and over.

I wish they'd have made the whole article about Hillary's dirty tricks, if dirty tricks there really were. Instead of all these detail about Obama, it seems like we would have gotten details about the digging expedition.

greywar

on Jan 23, 2007

That makes it look like the Hillary thing is just an excuse to associate the words "Obama" and "Muslim" over and over.

It is, Insight often trends to the Savage-right and this is one of those times. They don't care about Hillary's part simply because they can't get past the M-word.

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