Muslim Americans Losing Patience With Obama

According to a Pew poll, about 10 percent of Americans think Barack Obama is Muslim. The candidate has tried repeatedly to counter that “smear,” (the word used on Obama’s Web site) but a growing number of Muslim Americans are frustrated with the implication that there’s something wrong with them.

The first Muslim elected to Congress, Keith Ellison, perhaps said it best: “A lot of us are waiting for him to say that there’s nothing wrong with being a Muslim, by the way.”

New York Times:

While the senator has visited churches and synagogues, he has yet to appear at a single mosque. Muslim and Arab-American organizations have tried repeatedly to arrange meetings with Mr. Obama, but officials with those groups say their invitations — unlike those of their Jewish and Christian counterparts — have been ignored. Last week, two Muslim women wearing head scarves were barred by campaign volunteers from appearing behind Mr. Obama at a rally in Detroit.

In interviews, Muslim political and civic leaders said they understood that their support for Mr. Obama could be a problem for him at a time when some Americans are deeply suspicious of Muslims. Yet those leaders nonetheless expressed disappointment and even anger at the distance that Mr. Obama has kept from them.

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