Here is an egregious example of victimhood politics. “A single speech is not going to make things better, it takes time,” says Syed Mehdi, as if Muslims have been suffering horribly in the U.S. since 9/11: “He’s trying to build bridges. He’s trying to be the cure to the damage and wounds that happened after 9-11.” No word, of course, about the 3,000 wounds of 9/11 itself, or what must be done about them and the other wounds that Islamic jihadists continue to inflict daily. Oh, no — it is only Muslims who are suffering.
“US Muslims: Obama speech a 1st step in fixing ties,” by Sophia Tareen for AP, June 4 (thanks to all who sent this in):
CHICAGO (AP) – Muslim cabbies who gathered at a 24-hour Chicago cafe moments after daybreak Thursday to watch President Barack Obama’s address from Egypt described his words as an important first step toward repairing the United States’ strained relations with Muslims.
“A single speech is not going to make things better, it takes time,” said Syed Mehdi, a manager at the Flaming Wok’n Grill on the city’s north side, where a handful of taxi drivers gathered over chai to watch the speech broadcast live from Cairo University. “He’s trying to build bridges. He’s trying to be the cure to the damage and wounds that happened after 9-11.”
From Los Angeles to Detroit to Boston, many U.S. Muslims who caught the early morning address said they felt Obama was genuine in his first attempts to close the divide between the U.S. and Islamic countries. The speech was the U.S. president’s first to Muslims worldwide.
Muslims, of course, have no obligation to attempt to close that divide.
“I think he won hearts and minds in the Muslim world today,” said Salam al-Marayati, the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, who stayed up until 3 a.m. to watch the speech live….
See here why Obama shouldn’t want MPAC’s endorsement.
“I liked how he mentioned Muslims in America and that he mentioned his father was a Muslim,” said Kemal Bozkurt of Lawrence, Mass., who publishes a directory of Muslim businesses in New England. “Now it’s time for him to take action.”
Many who watched the speech also praised Obama’s recitation from the Quran and his use of the traditional Islamic greeting in Arabic “Assalamu Alaikum.”
“The words I heard, he spoke truth,” said Raja Khalid, who immigrated from Pakistan, and has driven cab in Chicago for 30 years. “It makes Muslims understand that no one is their enemy and they have to get their acts straight too.”
We’ll see.