Saudi Media Believe Obama Is Muslim

During the 2008 campaign, Obama's Muslim heritage was played up in much of the Arab press. The fact that Obama had a Muslim father, and a Muslim side of the family, and that his middle name is Hussein was a cause for great hope in the Arab world. That Americans may elect a quasi-Muslim who would be sympathetic to the causes of Arabs, especially the Palestinians and break the trend of unconditional American support for Israel and subsequent Arab disappointment. Obama's middle name was oft-quoted and sometimes some Arab media even referred to the candidate as Hussein Obama. As if to emphasize his Muslim roots.

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The Arab excitement was always naive, unfounded and misplaced. Obama did not have much of a relationship with his father whom he met only twice and for no more than a month. In addition, it is unlikely that at the age of ten Obama was somehow embedded with a strong regard for the faith since he dad was likely never a devote Muslim and eventually became an atheist. The Kenyan side of the family has also been a distant background for Obama with limited ties. It is true Obama spent time in Indonesia. But he was too young to bother with the faith and soon was back in Hawaii in the Protestant arms of his grandparents.

The Arab media was enamored with Hussein, but Obama never used it during the campaign and, in fact, himself and his supporters made it an offense for the McCain campaign to underline the name. There was no Barack Hussein Obama running for president. And Obama went out of his way to distance himself from the faith and the community. Although he visited numerous churches and synagogues, he never ventured inside a mosque or even Arab-American community center or gathering.

And Obama pandered incessantly to the Israel lobby and declared his fidelity to Israel time and again. The one time he made a slip and stated something pro-Palestinian ("No one is suffering more than the Palestinians") he quickly backtracked after criticism by the Israel lobby and reinvented the statement to say that 'although it is true the Palestinians are suffering, they are to blame for their suffering'. So Palestinians apparently love to occupy, ethnically cleanse and kill themselves.

The Arab expectation for Obama recalls the famous epigram "it was the triumph of hope over experience". Obama was never going to be that U.S. president who would champion Palestine and defend the rights of Arabs and Muslims. Beyond continuing U.S. military and diplomatic support for Israel, he continues U.S. support for corrupt Arab tyrant and has praised the most vile regime of all: House of Saud.

Forget it. There will be no change. But some Arabs still desperately cling to the hope and such clinging has even lead to an almost stupor reading of the press whereby they so dearly hope that they fail to recognize satire because they are so keen to believe it as true:

"When a US satirist joked that President Barack Obama will admit to Congress that he is Muslim in his latest compromise with Republicans, Saudi media took it seriously. On Friday the online version of Al-Hayat newspaper and the prominent news website Sabq.orgboth reported straightforwardly humourist Andy Borowitz's column that began: "In his latest effort to find common ground with Republicans in Congress, President Barack Obama said today that he was willing to agree that he is a Muslim. "In agreeing that he is a Muslim, Mr. Obama is sending a clear signal that he is trying to find consensus," Borowitz said in the column posted on the Huffington Post and The Borowitz Report websites this week. Both Al-Hayat, one of the Middle East's most influential newspapers, and Sabq, believed to be controlled by the Saudi interior ministry, apparently missed the joke. "Obama doesn't mind coming out as a Muslim if that will satisfy the Republicans," the Al-Hayat headline said. "Obama: 'I'm ready to announce that I am a Muslim,'" led Sabq. Both repeated Borowitz's "quote" of Obama saying:" My place of birth has been, and will always be, negotiable."

Funny, though.