avari | haroon moghul

Obama Lost a Little Lustre?

In case you forgot what America will be gaining when Bush is leaving:

As it turned out, the power of the president soared to new heights under Bush. Many of the administration’s most aggressive moves came in the realm of national security and the war on terror in particular. The Bush administration claimed the authority to deny captured combatants — U.S. citizens and aliens alike — such basic due-process rights as access to a lawyer. It created a detention facility on Guantánamo Bay that it declared was outside the jurisdiction of the federal courts and built a new legal system — without any input from Congress — to try enemy combatants. And it argued that the president’s commander-in-chief powers gave him the authority to violate America’s laws and treaties, including the Geneva Conventions.

What an absolute human, economic, constitutional and democratic disaster. 

A fair number of American Muslims are suddenly pouring forth hot and cold on Obama's views on the Middle East and how he doesn't promise change because he sticks to a range of positions and personalities over there.  Because, apparently, the only important change, never mind realistic possibility for change, is for Obama to ignore 97% of Americans and instead to enforce alignment with a minority American community's agenda, a community that has little clout, weight or financial resource (in organized form); and/or to ally with a set of countries that are generally on the verge of falling apart, failing or stalling. 

Let's put it this way: We booted out the Republicans, Americans all of us, because we want, and need, to fix America.  Our country.  We need change on health care, the economy, taxes, energy and infrastructure, education and the great conversations of race, identity, citizenship and gender.  Our specific, community-based foreign and domestic policy concerns won't be heard till we as a community are deserving of an audience, unfortunately or not, and when the failure to provide that audience results in electoral discomfort.  Full stop.  That doesn't mean in the meanwhile we forget about all the other things we can achieve, and the good thing that the end of Bush's presidency will be.

American Divides: Christianity, Not Race?

Exit polls show that nearly 90% of Muslims went for Obama, a fact I am certain his campaign, and others, will recognize, especially since so many Muslims live in swing states like Virginia.  Can Muslims be a campaign force?  We are becoming more, not less, electable.  Good news for the long-run is tempered by uncomfortable news, especially for Indian Muslims, in the short-run.

Meanwhile it seems Christianity remains a segregating force in American society, as the more likely it was a white person went to Church, most especially an Evangelical one, the less likely s/he voted Obama: "Right now, nearly all U.S. churches serve a single ethnic group."  But considering the turmoil within the Republican Party, which will eventually manifest itself come candidate selection time, it is provocative to see newer voices and ideas in the Party and the awareness of the ethnic diversity that successfully moved Proposition 8, to ban gay marriage, in California:  Will the Christian and social conservative G.O.P. reach out to these minorities with a more populist agenda?  I am not convinced the Christian Right, or conservatism is dead; rather, Obama's team built a much stronger, more diverse coalition.

Right now, that works -- it focuses on the economy, on healthcare, on energy, against an obsession with cultural issues and foreign policy (mis)adventures.

Muslim Americans For Obama: That Feeling of Hope and Disappointment

For many American Muslims, the excitement over Barack Obama’s candidacy and election was muted by a sense of being marginalized politically:  The New York Times today features a story and video hosted by the Islamic Center at New York University, our second appearance in their mediasphere in recent weeks.  (The header pic is from the musalla we now inhabit at 371 6th Avenue; join us for prayers, events and more: Our website can get you quickly on our mailing list and part of a community of hundreds of dedicated Muslims from all sorts of ethnic, professional and cultural backgrounds.)

Obama Bursts His Bubble: Rahm Emanuel, the Arab world and God

Maybe many Muslims had excessive or unrealistic expectations of President-Elect Obama; now is the time to withdraw those expectations.  His first pick, his first choice, for any position, is a politician so right-of-center that he opposed the Dubai Ports World deal, one of the most innocuous and potentially beneficial arrangements that could be made between the Arab world and America: Business, and mutual benefit, shot down, even against President Bush's wishes.  This might surprise, but it is a product of the way politics works: Loyalty, contribution, devotion, strategy.  For half of America's Muslims, this is a tremendous victory tinged with the awkwardness of religion, not race, the apparently more offensive category.  The remainder of America's Muslims and Arabs don't yet have anything to bring to the table, beyond vague threats of not voting and the like.  Until we have the power to shape discourse, even at a local level, here and there, we can expect to be ignored as Muslims; for our African-American community, there is now huge potential (as well as, it must be said, enormous judgment hanging over that community's head: It is always hard to be first).

But while I support the Democratic national agenda, on foreign policy I am more uncomfortable, especially since I see the two as interlinked -- attitudes here reflect attitudes there and vice versa.  Rahm Emanuel had a certain colorful family history within the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict and a strong supporter of NATFA: The Obama who knew of, and read, Khalidi and Said, and who talked of reviewing NAFTA, is of course not the same man we will have in office.  Although we must note that Emanuel is managing his staff at the White House -- he is not in charge of foreign policy, defense or the like; he has some more charged positions in these matters, but they are very likely not the primary reason he was picked, nor do they reflect his role if he accepts.  He is a veteran who can bring a tough mien to a new administration which will face numerous charges of naivete, inexperience and wetness behind the ears... that's tough, and requires a loyal, bold, disciplined ally at one's side.

Such is politics, and we must remain prepared, in the absence of our own powerful Muslim institutions, alliances and voices, to not share in these conversations at the level we'd like to.  So with the challenges of achieving an agenda come the challenge of even being featured on the agenda, anywhere, even in a subsection or footnote.  Throughout the Arab world, the awareness and significance of this first choice will certainly deflate feelings.  We have to satisfy a domestic audience, but we must be careful not to shoot ourselves in the foot on the international stage.  At the same time, we must be conscious that Obama, like every other politician, stands on the shoulders of giants who paved the way -- from the right of women to vote, to the Civil Rights movement, to the Democratic Party volunteers pushing blue into red states.  Muslims, whether black or not, will have to pair up and learn from previous examples, and should consider Emanuel an example of the pragmatism and balance and interests that trade in and around politics.

My own experience of the election remains oddly a bit underwhelming, as if I was more motivated by deep fear -- of McCain -- than hope -- of Obama -- and in the absence of the Republican threat, I am more critical of what Obama has done during this election and what he will do: We must remain vigilant, as democrats (lower-case and upper-case) and as citizens.  But I also expect more because he promises more, and foreshadows more, in the way so many Europeans might criticize America but still want better of America: They just do; America asks for higher standards in the image we believe of it.  (Iran, after all, makes grandiose claims of its own nationalism, officially and otherwise, yet few globally internalize that and expect Iran, for example, to live up to the hype.) We can fix healthcare, we can reorient the economy, we can change the conversation on race and power, and we can establish our infrastructure anew and meet energy challenges.  We can.  But it is a hard battle to fight.

It's Time to Support Muslim Republicans: George Bush, the American Muslim

We Muslims keep getting hints (from Above) that we have a part to play; too many obvious signs that we are in the world's eye no matter what -- from negative events to positive events, there are clear indications that we are being given opportunities to explain ourselves and to give ourselves and to make our agenda a better one.  Certainly we as a community are too small here, and too disorganized globally, to be a part of the great conversations of this age, but somehow we always manage to end up in them, for better and worse.  (With hardship, God says, comes ease.)  Perhaps we can take lessons from this and energize our own communities to accept and work past our great divides when now more than ever we need those lessons learned; locally, between immigrants and African Americans, and globally, between Sunnah and Shi'i, modernist and traditionalist, conservative and moderate, practicing and non-practicing.  But there is another element to this, which includes the political relationships within the American Muslim Ummah.

This is the time for a Muslim Republican core to emerge.  Right now.  As the Republican Party, shattered, tries to pick up the pieces of itself and decide in which direction to move.  Not that I would want to be part of that core; I am sympathetic to some elements of a Republican philosophy, especially of an old school, paleo-con variety, but not much else.  I am arguing that American Muslims, who as far as I can tell overwhelmingly threw considerable time, energy and passion behind Obama, must especially now reach out to and embrace those in our community who want to work with the Republican Party and who see themselves on that side of the aisle.  Right now, they will be part of a conversation within that party of what went wrong, why, how, when -- and how to get past that.  They need to be in the rooms where those heated discussions take place.  We must remember to do this as we move forward, because we as a community can still find ourselves with yet another short end of a many-ended stick.

We saw ourselves and our religion become the nationalized, socialized American punching bag, in the last seven years but especially after the Iraq War and in this election climate.  Obama's election has shown that many Americans were not going to buy the racist garbage pumped out by the loser Islamophobes of Islamofascism Invention; take your Third Jihad and shove it.  That's so amazing; I too was initially freaked by Obsession and then warmed up when I realized that, the more you cry wolf, the less people vote for you.  But the fact lingers unlike a wudu broken in the wind: They tried to win by using us as an insult.  He's bad because he's Muslim.  Time and time again, association with us was association with some form of evil, from McCain's unwillingness to defend Arabs and Muslims to Obama's distancing himself from Arabs and Muslims.  Yes, today America has reached a stunningly positive outcome, a great leap towards overcoming the very fundamental flaw and hypocrisy that has marked this country's claims to equality during its very independence and since then -- and that not by a radical agenda, it must be pointed out (though it built on that agenda's achievements), but by an insistent emphasis on our basic goodness, our national character and strength.  That must be remembered, as we must remember that the battles to heal a divided nation are not nearly over, and can be drowned out in a sense of self-congratulation.  This is where Muslim Republicans come in. 

This is where we don't go George Bush, bragging about "political capital" and then squandering it, and the country's wealth, till he is a complete non-factor, except that association with him is like but worse than association with America's Muslims.  He got no bailout himself.  What delicious irony: I mean, at least Colin Powell defended us.

Obama's Father...

... was an absent, non-practicing Muslim.  His son became what he did in part because of his father's absence.  Yet I wonder what a stunning disservice his father did to his family, and his country/ies, and how he will be answerable for that indifference on that day.  We really never know, in our lives, the worth of the people we come into contact with, let alone are responsible for.  Obama's alienation from his father may have been his alienation from his father's faith; it has been a long time since American Islam has even produced leaders of similar caliber or inspirational effect (Muhammad Ali; Malcolm X; Warith Deen Muhammad).  Just a warning to all future fathers out there: You never know.

Please God, Let it End

So many horrible things have happened in the last seven years.  So many reasons to take a different direction, to do a better job, to care and to be competent.  There's just about twelve hours till we know what happens.  The wife and I are about to go vote in the toss-up that is Harlem (talk about feeling inconsequential.)  I want an inspiring America; not that I remember, from the easier 1990's, but one that makes government cool, one that once again broadcasts some measure of hope and energy and forward-thinking.  Can it actually be?

Obama's Team Points Out Palin

Good Sarah Palin revived this blog, and my enthusiasm for blogging: She's new the conclusion of a very serenely alarming advertisement, in which a calm music is contrasted - without the necessity for words - with McCain's statements and selection.  The strength of the ad, I think, is that it attempts and succeeds at conveying a sense of conclusiveness, even inevitability: We all know what's wrong with Palin; the ad tries to convince by not trying to convince.  Very sophisticated.  Most such ads are dull and obvious.

Elsewhere

Nicholas Kristof points to an apparent al-Qaeda endorsement for John McCain; he also does an excellent job at conveying the shortsightedness, and I must add inhumanity, of recent U.S. foreign policy towards Somalia and for that he must be appreciated.  Rather than allow the Courts Union to come to power and then work with moderate elements, in our hubris or ignorance (often, the same) we encouraged an historic rival to invade and destabilize that country:

In the same way today, an exaggerated fear of “Islamofascism” elides a complex reality and leads us to overreact and damage our own interests. Perhaps the best example is one of the least-known failures in Bush administration foreign policy: Somalia.

Today, Somalia is the world’s greatest humanitarian disaster, worse even than Darfur or Congo. The crisis has complex roots, and Somali warlords bear primary blame. But Bush administration paranoia about Islamic radicals contributed to the disaster.

The fruits of this strategy of indifference can be seen in the recent suicide bombings targeting the U.N. there.  It smacks a lot of Afghanistan.

I must add that had we more foresight, we could have identified, isolated and worked with more moderate elements in Afghanistan to build a consensus against 1) al-Qaeda and 2) extremist Taliban supporters of al-Qaeda, rather than fighting on one side of a civil war and then -- equally crucially -- not doing anything to secure the apparent gains.  That's what we've done in Somalia, too; we could have worked more intelligently, pragmatically and reasonably.  Can we fix these issues?

Most important for all this, however, is how.  How will Obama fix these places, say in Afghanistan?  How will America pursue its objectives in the region?  We are going massively bankrupt, and yet the psychological adjustment necessary -- we cannot afford empire, nor to think, speak or behave imperially -- has not kicked in, because the leadership is too afraid to say anything, too afraid to tell us that we can't claim the same mantle of global preeminence when we cannot afford to give 1/6th of our population healthcare.  (Yet we spend more, proportionally, than any industrialized country, and are not remarkably healthy from the size of our clothes.) 

I wonder if Obama too will be too beholden to those interests and attitudes, not to mention the impossibility of one man or one administration of changing decades of assumptions: The same silliness that sees Americans not understanding the dangers of oil dependency, hugely unnecessary SUVs, increasingly large homes and an entirely unbalanced pattern of consumption.  We are exceptional in our financial disaster at the moment, and we cannot pursue objectives of nation-building that drain billions monthly, taking away from monies we absolutely need for our infrastucture, energy independence, social welfare programs, education, tuition assistance and financial rescue packages.

We need an attitude adjustment.  We need to realize that our own country is hurting, and slowed, and facing a number of massive challenges, and that requires commitment and sacrifice domestically as well as internationally: A starving person cannot have the cake and eat it.  He must eat it.  We are certainly not starving.  But we are not exactly rolling in the dough, either.  We are faced with choices that demand not just a political realignment, but a broader conception of commitment to country and community, which means giving more and taking less. 

It means making America strong again, but strong in its fundamentals: Affordable education, competitive but accessible healthcare options, a competitive internal business environment that is coupled with a strong package of support systems, so that G.M. doesn't have to go to Ontario to save money.  It means, yes, spreading the wealth around so that we can sustain a meaningful democracy, which is only possible with a meaningful middle class.  It means manufacturing jobs, real income generation, advances in energy sources and delivery and not exaggerated dependence upon financial services which tend towards exaggeration, imbalance and speculation, to obvious harm (and little benefit).  All that also means ending this obsession with building new countries in the place of old ones.

The Plot to Kill Obama

Somehow, it doesn't rate as "white terrorism," although clearly that's what's being proposed: Terrorizing black folk in the name of the supremacy of the white race (though the two in question hardly seem to be the best specimens.)  Justifiably so: Their views don't "represent" white America, although they claim to be acting on behalf of, or because of, their whiteness.  I only wish Muslims got this kind of fair(er) treatment.  It's funny, too, because the general conclusion is that these were simply nutty young guys with no capability to do what they said they would do.  In cases when Muslims in the West are often charged with some kind of intent to terrorize, undercover agents are often responsible for radicalizing them or encouraging them so as to either bring them out in the open or make a more devastating case against them.  Why not here?  Why not slip into such circles and encourage the most radical, hateful views, to "make a stronger case"?  Because such a thing would be vile, ridiculous and dangerous.

I Want McCain to Win

The latest poll shows Obama leading in Virginia, old Dominion, by eight percentage points; this tilts the predicted electoral map to a clear victory for the Illinois Senator.  I have to admit I'm scared to believe this; something about being in the minority, under a trigger-happy Republican administration, seems oddly familiar and frighteningly reassuring (as in the two, at the same time); what happens with Democrats (or at least a Democrat) in charge?  It's so different, so promising, that I am pinching myself, forcing myself to realize that it is not over till next Wednesday -- if not in fact a few more weeks from now, as not so long ago we learned how these things "work."

Meanwhile, it seems, the McCain camp is exploding; there are political terrorists within the campaign, and fingers are, not surprisingly, pointing at Palin.  If this is one of those epoch-changing meltdowns, which guarantees a Republican wandering for the next decade or so, then what is Palin thinking?  Clearly, she is not going to be a leader of the Party.  (Palin '12? Not in America's freakiest nightmares.) She might want to believe she can spiritually warfare her way to a $300,000 presidential sartorial line-item budget, but she has been so humiliated and embarrassed in this campaign on a national level, much in the manner of Danforth Quayle (put down not by a potato, but by Tina Fey), that I find it very hard to conceive how she could bounce back and present a viable national candidacy for anything but an evangelical fringe.  Only marginally less likely than a Palin candidacy, or because of a Palin candidacy, the Republican coalition is in real danger of fracturing, between an increasingly diverse Christian right and a libertarian and big business wing(s), the kind of tensions that simmered this primary spring in the first floral stirrings of Huckabee, Ron Paul and John McCain.  Personally, I feel Palin represents the tired and silly fusion of these wings, in its increasingly nonsensical form; Huckabee is a Republican that I, as a blue dog Democrat, can admire.

Personally, I don't mind the idea of Democratic dominance.  The Republicans have messed up so badly, and so completely (I mean, really, is there anything else Bush can oversee the destruction of, from other countries, to one of our cities, to our country's economy), that they need to be out in the wild mumbling and tearing out each other's hair.  It did the Democrats good to be alienated from power for so long the last few decades, it forced the party to better understand itself and the application of its ideals in changing circumstances (this kind of refresh-the-page is what makes democracy work); instead of a deadening John Kerry, we have an uplifting Barack Obama.  God willing.

So the Republicans are necessary for democracy, and in fact I sympathize with (if not entirely agree with) their positions or their inspirations on issues, especially long-lost and increasingly intra-G.O.P. fringe values of individual responsibility, local control, issues of social and culture norms, respect for faith, frustration with a certain classist and extremist disdain for religiosity, but their theocratic presentation-qua-enforcement of these issues, their narrow-mindedness and know-nothing-ism, their allegiance to a mind-numbingly arrogant, corrupt and shockingly incompetent clique of wanna-be imperialists, their divisive rhetorical strategies often purely racist and increasingly devoted to a militant foreign policy, campaigns of fear-mongering and ultimately largely irrelevant capitalist propaganda in a time of global meltdown and local depression has left them in the wilderness, deservedly so... or so, I have to remember, it seems from the vantage point of this day.  Next Wednesday we'll know.

I am freaking out.

I mean, even Financial Times, paper of big business bar none, is behind Obama.