Iowa State Fail
(Marie Lambert)– The months leading up to a general election always seem to bring out the best in people (and by best, I mean worst). I’d like to think that at a certain point in the process, everyone calms down, looks at the ridiculous things that are being said on both sides, and decides to be reasonable. 
After all, you can buy Barack Obama birth certificate mugs now, so I think we’ve cleared this one one up at least.
But then this had to happen. Country music singer Hank Williams Jr. was playing a concert at the Iowa State Fair when he decided to share some of his political beliefs with listeners. After finishing the song “We Don’t Apologize for America,” he declared to the enthusiastic crowd:
We’ve got a Muslim president who hates farming, hates the military, hates the US and we hate him!
Above and separate from my political beliefs, I am a big believer in facts. I like citations, footnotes, and background information for any and all claims. So in the most non-partisan way possible, I’d like to respond to Mr. Williams Jr.’s comments. I am offended by the fallaciousness of his statements simply as someone who strives for clarity and reason in all debates. I don’t think Hank Williams Jr. is intentionally lying, but that is simply misinformed, and believes his statements about President Obama to be true. Maybe he is using hyperbole for its rhetoric effects. But laying them out the way he did, Hank Williams Jr.’s claims are disingenuous and just untrue.
1. President Obama is not a Muslim: Yes, his father was a Muslim. Yes, he attended a public school in Indonesia with Muslim (and Christian) students for two years. Yes, his middle name (Hussein) is Arabic. These are not sufficient qualifications to make a person a Muslim. Ignoring the fact that President Obama has stated that he is a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ on numerous occasions, let’s suppose he is a secret Muslim. Well, then he’s probably the world’s most non-observant secret Muslim, because he is very obviously not following two out of the five pillars of Islam: prayer five times a day, and fasting during Ramadan.
Secret Muslim Obama, don’t you know the State Fair is in the middle of Ramadan this year?
2. Does President Obama really hate farming?: If he does, he somehow still cares about those who do it, since he has a whole page on his website dedicated to them. Additionally, not only has Obama endorsed the Senate’s latest draft of the newest farm bill, which would help beginning farmers with loans and start-up costs, increase rural small business development, and reduce costly subsidies for farmers, but has announced the government will buy $170 million worth of meat from farmers struggling because of this summer’s drought.
3. As for the President’s views on the military, maybe he hates the idea that we lose hundreds of American lives in combat each year through the military (not to mention the suicide rate of one death a day). But he sure doesn’t seem to hate our troops themselves, since he passed bills helping them find jobs, homes, and education.
4. President Obama must obviously hate America, that’s why he swore to protect and defend our Constitution (sorry, can’t hold back the sarcasm now). Seriously, even Sarah Palin didn’t contest this point.
5. “and we hate him”: now, this has a ring of truth to it. You, Hank Williams Jr., do in fact seem to hate the President, for whatever reasons (please don’t state the previous four on this list). And I’m sure that many people in the crowd at your concert that night hate him as well—maybe they have their own, better-articulated reasons, and maybe they just need someone to hate. But the broader, more general sense of the “we” to which you refer? I can only hope that we can have the presence of mind not to dole out our hate quite so lightly and generously.
Cover photo credit: http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/juice/content/hank-williams-jr-rips-president-obama-during-iowa-concert
4 Comments on “Iowa State Fail”
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And, not only does Obama drink alcohol, but he brews his own beer for godsake! On top of which, I’m fairly certain I’ve seen pictures of him at barbeques eating pork. He’s the worst Muslim I’ve ever met.
Er, no, Barack Obama did NOT go to a Muslim school in Indonesia. I wondered how much special research (as opposed to your own personal knowledge) you put in when writing the article. Our knowledge should rise to at least the level of Wikipedia. Barack Obama went to a Catholic school for about 2 years and then a more or less secular, or religiously neutral public school (actually a pretty famous one) for about a year. He was not educated in a madrasah (which is the nearest equivalent to “Muslim school”, I guess).
Putting that aside though, you have to consider the possible reasons why many people on the right believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Sure, his name and Indonesian childhood sure has an effect on that strong perception, and are perhaps the deciding factors. But I think that some of his policies, such as the Catholic Church/birth control affair, may create a perception that he is merely a nominal Christian. I think many Republicans view many Democrats as being merely cultural Christians who don’t take their religion seriously enough (since, for example, being a Catholic requires you to absolutely oppose abortion). It just takes a little bit from there to believing that Obama is a Muslim. Of course, this position isn’t rational, as it also depends on ignorance of Islam. Were Barack Obama a true, observant Muslim, he would not be a liberal on social issues, such as homosexuality.
While I did know through my research that Barack Obama was not educated at a madrassa (generally connoted with radical Islam), I can see how my statement that he attended a “Muslim school” could sound misleading. Both the source that I cited in the article (http://atheism.about.com/od/barackobamareligionfaith/a/ObamaReligion.htm) and a CNN article that I read (http://articles.cnn.com/2007-01-22/politics/obama.madrassa_1_islamic-school-madrassa-muslim-school?_s=PM:POLITICS) used similar language: “Obama has noted in his two books, “Dreams From My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope,” that he spent two years in a Muslim school and another two years in a Catholic school while living in Indonesia from age 6 to 10″ (CNN). To avoid confusion, I have edited the sentence in question.
Additionally, I see your point about why rumors persist about President Obama’s supposed Muslim faith. Perhaps it is because he doesn’t seem to be very vocal about his specific religious tradition that many consider him to be simply a “cultural Christian,” as you said. I’ll admit that I didn’t know which specific branch of Christianity he followed until I was doing research for this article and learned he belongs to the United Church of Christ.
Seeing that CNN article, it’s a bit funny for me to see madrasah being equated to “radical fundamentalist Muslim school” in the US. While it is true that there are probably one or two madrasahs which are sympathetic to radical Islam, the vast majority are probably better described as socially conservative and spend most of their time teaching regular subjects in a classroom-style setting, just like religiously-affiliated schools in the US. A pesantren would perhaps fit that radical picture slightly better, but still, the majority of pesantrens in Indonesia don’t condone violence. Of course that doesn’t mean that Indonesian Islam doesn’t have a problem with religious tolerance and separation of (mosque?) and state, but I think they are still a far cry from all being a hotbed for Al-Qaeda.