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Obama continues Outreach to the Muslim World

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  • Obama continues Outreach to the Muslim World

    After making his June Cairo Uiversity Speech, his start of Ramandan speech, and others, Obama's outreach continues after his return from Martha's Vinyard.

    Obama's Ramadan Speech Targets Muslims Abroad—and Non-Muslims at Home
    2 Sept [USNews] By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

    President Obama's speech at last night's White House Ramadan dinner (excerpt below) revolved around stories of American Muslims that seemed calibrated to appeal to two very different audiences: Muslims abroad and non-Muslims at home.

    Obama spoke of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq whose grave at Arlington National Cemetery bears a crescent, an Islamic symbol. He applauded a Muslim student in Oklahoma who fought for her right to wear a hijab, a traditional Muslim head scarf, to school—and won. And he told of a Muslim high schooler from Massachusetts who broke her state's record for the most career points scored by a high school basketball player.

    For the international Muslim audience—much of which has come to see the United States as anti-Muslim because of its actions in its war on terrorism—the stories spotlighted Muslim Americans whose struggles, accomplishments, and contributions have been acknowledged and rewarded by their country. For the domestic, non-Muslim audience, those same stories served to normalize a community that is often perceived as "other."

    Here's the relevant passage:

    So on this occasion, we celebrate the Holy Month of Ramadan, and we also celebrate how much Muslims have enriched America and its culture—in ways both large and small. And with us here tonight, we see just a small sample of those contributions. Let me share a few stories with you briefly. ....
    Last edited by Merlin; 03 Sep 09,, 07:40.

  • #2
    Here's more details of this Ramadan Dinner at the White House, including the guests invited.

    White House dates: The president celebrates Ramadan and American Muslims
    2 Sept [USAToday] Dates, the desert fruit that traditionally break Muslims' day-long fast during Ramadan, were at the top of the White House menu last night as President Obama hosted a dinner honoring Islam's American believers during their faith's holiest month. ....

    Guests at the dinner included the U.S. Congress' first two Muslim members: Reps. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and Andre Carson, D-Ind., ambassadors of a number of Muslim nations and many top-ranking U.S. government officials, including Attorney General Eric Holder, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Indiana's Sen. Richard Lugar, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

    Also among the invitees were members of the president's ecumenical Council on Faith-Based and Community Partnerships: Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism; Eboo Patel of the Interfaith Youth Core out of the president's hometown of Chicago; and Joel Hunter, the pastor of an evangelical mega-congregation in central Florida.

    Obama also acknowledged an absent invitee, the boxing Olympian who is perhaps the nation's most famous convert to Islam. ....
    Last edited by Merlin; 03 Sep 09,, 08:47.

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    • #3
      LOL! It was George W Bush who started the idea.

      The Mind Behind Obama's Ramadan Dinner: George W. Bush
      1 Sept [USNews] By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

      Is the White House dinner tonight celebrating Ramadan and honoring the contributions of American Muslims the latest exhibit in President Obama's charm offensive toward the global Islamic community?

      Sure, but it wasn't Obama's idea. Turns out that the Ramadan dinner was an innovation of George W. Bush, who hosted one every year he was in office and who also used the event to recognize the contributions of American Muslims. ....

      The biggest difference in the Bush- and Obama-era dinners is how the United States' Bush-era war on terrorism figures into them. Obama has framed his Muslim outreach largely as an effort to repair the damage to the U.S. image in the Muslim world by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

      Bush, by contrast, proudly invoked those wars during his final Ramadan dinner. ....
      Last edited by Merlin; 03 Sep 09,, 10:00.

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