2008 Election CoverUps

Obama Bows to Muslim Demands

By Andrew Peterson
For CoverUps.com

Austin Hill has an excellent report at TownHall.com about the politics of image-making and how it has revealed an aspect of Obama's character which should give pause to voters who are thinking about voting for him.

Just before a campaign event in Detroit, an Obama staffer approached two young men and asked if they would like to appear onstage behind Obama during his speech. The men said yes, and asked the staffer if some friends of theirs could join them on the stage. The staffer inquired about their friends' appearance, and it soon became obvious that the friends were in fact two young Muslim women who would be clad in traditional clothes. The staffer said no to the mens' friends appearing.

This soon led to what looked like a well-rehearsed denunciation of Obama by the aggrieved Muslim women, who decried the discrimination and unfairness of his campaign's decision.

Yet Obama and his staff did nothing wrong. Just imagine the kind of political hit Obama would have taken if American audiences had seen a pair of burkha-clad women in veils sitting behind him during his speech.

CoverUps reads know we are no fans of Obama. But we believe he showed simple prudence in denying the two women a place on his stage.

But as Austin Hill writes, that's not where the story ends. After the women made their big public fuss, Obama called them personally and apologized.

So what's wrong with that, you ask? According to Hill, Obama caved:

But what exactly was Obama apologizing for? And who are these people – the Muslim activists – who believe that they are entitled to appear on stage with a presidential candidate?

This incident gives every appearance of having been a “set-up:” The women dressed so as to overtly appear Muslim; they got denied the right to appear with Obama; and then they became outraged and started demanding things from Obama.

The worst part of this is that Obama acquiesced, and offered his apology when he had done nothing wrong.

Image management of this sort by American political leaders has been par for the course since the early 90s, when President Clinton practiced it. As Hill observes:

The next U.S. President will face untold challenges and “set-ups” from Muslims, both domestically and abroad. If candidate Obama is so willing to meet Muslim demands in a situation as absurd as this one, how quick would President Obama be to meet Muslim demands when the stakes are higher?

Our Take

With this episode, Barack Obama has shown himself to be either very cowardly or very cynical. Neither of these possibilities is encouraging to think about.

If Obama was sincere in his apology, then he is in for the beating of his life in the oval office. U.S. allies and enemies alike around the world would like nothing better than to have a weak-kneed U.S. President to run roughshod over.

If Obama's apology was just an act, is there any doubt that if elected President he will serve the American public a steady and nauseating diet of politically-correct pandering and platitudes.

Read the original article at Townhall.com.