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Muslim Votes Crucial for Obama
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Obama shied away meeting Muslim imams publicly or appearing in mosques.
(Reuters)
CHICAGO - Disturbed by Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's apathy
to reach out Muslim voters, American Muslims are being urged to act to show
the White House hopeful that the Muslim vote will be crucial in the November
election.
"Muslims need to let Obama know that he has to earn their votes," Saaqib
Rangoonwala, managing editor of Muslim magazine InFocus, told Reuters on
Friday, July 25.
"American Muslim votes will be needed and it is time for Muslims to take a
stand."
Obama shied away meeting Muslim imams publicly, unlike the candidates in the
2000 and 2004 elections.
He also declined to appear in mosques, despite repeated visits to churches
and synagogues.
Obama's campaign also ignored invitations by Muslim and Arab-American
organizations to arrange a meeting with the Democratic nominee.
The Illinois Senator, who aspires to become the first black president in US
history, also failed to send a surrogate to speak to Muslims at any of their
events.
"Muslims are not less deserving of Obama's time than other groups that he
has met with," said Rangoonwala.
There are over two million registered Muslim voters in the United States.
Sixty-three percent of American Muslims are Democrats or learned in that
direction, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Politics.
Only 11 percent of US Muslims are Republican.
A Fox News poll on Thursday showed Obama leading Republican candidate John
McCain 41 to 40 percent among registered voters.
Excessive
The umbrella Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) lamented failure
of the Democratic nominee to reach out Muslim voters.
"Many in the Muslim community think he is being sheepish in reaching out to
them," said CAIR-Chicago executive director Ahmed Rehab.
Rehab said that American Muslims are showing a high level of interest in the
November election, with the main issues being civil rights, peace in the
Middle East, immigration, the economy and Islamophobia.
There are between six to seven million Muslims in the United States, making
up less than three percent of the country's 300 million population.
A recent survey by Pew Research Center and the Pew Forum found that
attitudes toward Muslims and Islam have grown more negative in recent years.
"We don't expect him (Obama) to come to us and say, 'I'm with you.' We don't
need that," said Sofian Zakkout, director of the American Muslim Association
of North America.
Obama also upset many American Muslims with his "excessive" attempts to deny
that he was a Muslim.
Abdulaziz Al-Salim, 23, a Minnesota native, said he was sad that "being
associated with Muslims is a political liability."
Salim, who lives in Daman, Saudi Arabia, where he works as a financial
analyst for Saudi Aramco, however, said he would vote for Obama "for the
same reasons that everyone else is supporting him. He's a unifier,
charismatic and represents change."
Obama, who describes himself as a proud follower of the Trinity United
Church of Christ, has been outspoken in refuting smear campaigns describing
him as a Muslim in disguise.
Obama is the son of a Muslim-turned-atheist Kenyan father and a white
American mother that did not practice religion.
Born in Hawaii, he lived from ages 6 to 10 in Indonesia with his mother and
Muslim stepfather.
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