The New York Times reports this morning that the Obama administration is in progress with a sustained outreach to all Islamic Americans. One of the main points in the article is that Obama has stood by his nomination of Rashad Hussain,a 31-year-old White House lawyer, to become the United States’ special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. As the Times says,"in a video address, Mr. Obama highlighted Mr. Hussain’s status as a 'close and trusted member of my White House staff' and 'a hafiz,' a person who has memorized the Koran."
Of course, shortly after this nomination, it was revealed that in 2004, Hussain called a number of domestic terrorism prosecutions “politically motivated.” The cases he criticized included that of Sami Al-Arian, a professor in Florida who pleaded guilty to aiding members of a Palestinian terrorist group. So in essence, according to Hussain, it was political motivation that got Al Arian indicted and the guilty plea that followed. One does wonder why Al Arian admitted his guilt if this was just political theater.
Despite Husssin's support for an admitted criminal who was aiding terrorists, Obama is standing by his man. Indeed, according to the Times, the administration is also apologizing to Arab American groups for being too zealous in looking for potential domestic terrorists.
It seems that the Obama thinks that the tactic of apologizing for past success has worked so well abraod that he is implementing it now at home. What truly amazes me is that the Times writes of this in a laudatory fashion. Do they really think that average Americans think that Obama should stand by a man like Hussain or apologize for past US efforts to thwart terrorism? Maybe on the Upper West Side of Manhattan that works, but in the real world, it surely does not.
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