Tuesday, November 27, 2007

No Muslims need apply

I haven't yet stooped to using any candidate's religious affiliation against him and I operate under the assumption that most will not let such things interfere with their professional lives or their oath of office. Of course since so many of the Republican tribe have been espousing Christian Supremacy and confusing Church teachings with the law, it's sometimes hard to refrain.

I continue to think it has nothing to do with his being a Mormon, but Mitt Romney may have crossed a boundary and it may be time to ask what kind of prejudices he has or is pandering to.
"…based on the numbers of American Muslims in our population, I cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified. But of course, I would imagine that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration."
said Mr. Romney to the Christian Science Monitor. I presume that by "lower levels" he refers to something more than waxing the presidential limo but this, I feel, is a revealing position and shows us as did his snubbing of the man in the wheelchair that there is something less under the tailored suit than is advertised. Would it be too much to consider an appointee's knowledge and skills rather than what ethnic pigeonhole you can stuff him into?

In choosing a candidate, I'm not necessarily put off by suggestions that a cabinet "look like America" but I'm not looking for tokens, I'm looking for competence and that's something sadly lacking in recent years.
"More ironic, that Islamic heritage is what qualifies them to best engage America's Arab and Muslim communities and to help deter Islamist threats"
says Mansoor Ijaz writing for the Monitor and I agree. Would that the idiot George had been able to listen to an adviser who knew the difference between Sunni and Shia and the tensions between them. Ijaz, by the way, is substantially responsible for exposing A.Q. Khan, who had been selling Pakistani nuclear technology on the black market and he did so at some personal risk. Nice to know that Mitt would disqualify him for reasons of ethnic purity.

What I'm looking for in a president is a man who will look for the best and won't preclude anyone on the basis of religion or race or his feelings about abortion or gay marriage or the war in Iraq. That's not Mitt, obviously. I don't care what the president's advisers look like or what ethnicity he thinks they should represent and by automatically relegating people who identify with Islam to lower positions by virtue of that identification, Mitt further disqualifies himself from consideration.

Perhaps he's pandering to what he perceives as an anti-Muslim bias in America or perhaps he really means it. In either event I don't think he belongs anywhere but on the cover of some Men's wear catalog where looking good and holding the pose isn't an act of dishonesty.

5 comments:

Buffalo said...

Uh, what does America look like?

Capt. Fogg said...

To too many people, it looks like George Bush. Bush is big on the appearance of diversity and small on competence.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Mitt would be a good middle aged model or perhaps even a leading man. But in America, that's all it takes to be elected to high office. Issues and substance are not important because we will believe whatever they say anyway. Pandering to our current islamic racism? Why not? As long as he gives us a very sincere smile we'll give him our vote.

Capt. Fogg said...

Other countries that retain vestigial royalty, may be better able to separate the worship of celebrities and the search for competent employees. You're right, we look for appearance. We prefer the taller candidate 90% of the time and a bald genius wouldn't have a chance against someone with Reagan hair.

d nova said...

charisma always wins. looks n height contribute 2 it but aren't everything. jus look back at all races u recall. did less charismatic candidate ever win? i cn't think o one, certnly not in presidential race.

now u mention it, mitt does look like a model. so does bush. old marlboro man ad played on moyers show, i think, recently. smthing on pbs, anyway. spittin' image o dubya.

i think they're both gay n oughta come out. (i don' mean that as a slur, jus a statement o opinion.)