I would like to know what Larison thinks these writers should have done to prepare the Obama-is-a-Muslim section of the public. What more can the man do, other than, I dunno, profess at every opportunity that he’s Christian? ~Aaron at Pseudo-Body Politic

Aaron is not alone in objecting to my claim that the people who stressed Obama’s international ties and supposed ability to build a bridge to Muslims are responsible for encouraging the false belief that Obama is a Muslim.  First of all, Aaron incorrectly assumes that I am pinning the blame for this entirely on progressives.  As I said many times over the last year, I thought that Andrew Sullivan’s arguments about Obama’s alleged appeal among Muslims were doing the candidate real and perhaps irretrievable harm.  I also thought that the notion that he has such appeal was exaggerated, but that’s a different question.  One need only see how the “endorsement” from Hamas was spun to Obama’s political disadvantage and how it continues to be used against him in a country that is already thoroughly anti-Palestinian.  Simply by raising these topics and bringing them into mainstream discussion, Obama’s admirers legitimized the discussion of his heritage and religion to a degree that was simply not possible before they unburdened themselves of their enthusiastic cheers.  I have no illusions that there would not have been some significant percentage that believed that Obama was a Muslim, but instead of glorifying Obama’s differences they might have made more of an effort to dwell on his established American roots.  This is really where I fault them, as Obama has a very normal, recognizable family history in this country to which most voters could relate and this side of his ancestry has been ignored by his champions. 

What do I think Kristof, Sullivan, Cohen and other unhelpful Obama admirers should have done?  I think they might have avoided mentioning how beautiful Obama finds the Islamic call to prayer, I think they might have eschewed ever referring to his middle name, and I think they could have worked much more strenuously to stress how embarrassingly “pro-Israel” Obama’s positions on Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and the like have been.  I take it for granted that his admirers and supporters want him to win, and I assume they are savvy enough to understand that imputing sympathy with Muslims is exactly what Obama’s opponents want people to believe about him, so I have never understood why they have been so keen to talk about those aspects of his life and family history that separate him from most Americans’ experience.  As they may discover by the end, they have been doing Mark Penn and Steve Schmidt’s work for them.