WHY ISLAMISTS CHEER FOR OBAMA
First published at American Thinker
One of the most striking aspects of this presidential campaign is the enthusiasm the candidacy of Barack Obama has engendered among Muslims both at home and abroad.
On April 13 of this year, Ahmed Yousef, a public relations man for the terrorist organization Hamas, said in an interview: “We like Mr. Obama and we hope he will win the election.” He then gave the reason for Hamas’ support: “He has a vision to change America.”
Earlier this month, Libya’s strongman Muammar Khadafi gave an endorsement speech in which he called Barack Obama a “brother” and expressed his hope that he will “change America from evil to good and that America will establish relations that will serve it well with other people, especially the Arabs.” He also said:
[A]ll the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded this man. They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American Presidency.
The Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan gushed “this young man [Obama] is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better.” He went on to say that Obama “could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall.” In another appearance, Farrakhan stated that he “represents hope that the United States will change for the better.”
Prominent Egyptian journalist Yasser Khalil wrote recently “Barack Obama represents a phenomenon that has drawn global attention and captivated the minds of Muslims around the world.” He noted that “this level of support for an American presidential candidate is unprecedented in the Muslim world” and observed that “large segments of the Muslim population here remain fascinated with the election and have become big fans of Senator Obama.”
The possibility of an Obama presidency fills Muslims world over with great hope as evidenced by the accolades and glowing endorsements they heap upon him. More remarkably still, their enthusiasm seems to be correlated with piety. The most radical Muslims tend to be among his strongest supporters.
The question is what accounts for this phenomenon. What is it about Barack Obama that so excites the Islamist psyche?
Some have suggested that Obama must be a secret practitioner and that Muslims are somehow able to discern this. There is, however, no proof of that. From all we know, Barack Obama is no clandestine Muslim, and until there is some credible evidence to show otherwise such insinuations are counterproductive at best.
What attracts Islamists to Obama is not that they necessarily see him as a covert co-religionist, but their sense that his worldview – and especially his view of America – corresponds with their own.
To see why they feel this way, we must go back to the early days of Obama’s candidacy.
