What is wrong with having a Muslim as president?

[Xiahou]

But as General Powell so eloquently asked: Why shouldn't it be possible for a muslim American to run for president?

As long as enough of their policy views line up with mine, I don't care what religion or race they are. I think Powell was a little hypocritical in his criticism along those lines. For every time a McCain supporter suggested Obama was a muslim, Obama supporters have just as vehemently tried to shout it down, as though being muslim would be some fatal character flaw. He's not a muslim, he's a christian- but so what if he was? Using his middle name has also become a smear, or even a racist attack- why?

I guess, to answer the question, I personally, don't care what a candidate's specific religion is. But, judged by the reactions on both sides to muslim insinuations on both sides, society as a whole apparently isn't ready for it.

[drone]

A Muslim president? We cannot have a president that takes orders from Mecca!

Or where ever they take their orders from...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[rvg]

Because people tend to vote for what they know and understand. Islam is still largely and enigma in our society, and the antics put up by various crazies in the middle east do not exactly help its image. A muslim presidential candidate will have serious trouble connecting with the bulk of the voters, and while he might do well in the oval office, there's practically no chance for a muslim to get there.

[ICantSpellDawg]

In all fairness - the accusations are not simply that he is a Muslim, but that he has been lying about his faith in order to subvert criticism of his Muslim faith. That would be a major concern if the rumors were true.

Other than that, any faith that is outside of the US mainstream brings deeply held beliefs that might be hard for large swathes of society to accept. The more exotic, the more different ideals, the more people will question them.

Look at what they did to Romney over his faith.

[rvg]

Look at what they did to Romney over his faith.

Yes. Tom Cruise too, should never bother running for president.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

I think Powell was a little hypocritical in his criticism along those lines. For every time a McCain supporter suggested Obama was a muslim, Obama supporters have just as vehemently tried to shout it down, as though being muslim would be some fatal character flaw.

Angry redneck: I'm not voting for Barack HUSSEIN Obama because he's a muslim!
Obama supporter: Actually, he isn't: *proof*

or

Angry redneck: I'm not voting for Barack HUSSEIN Obama because he's a muslim!
Obama supporter: What's wrong with being muslim?

[Fragony]

One word, takiyya.

[Koga No Goshi]

For every time a McCain supporter suggested Obama was a muslim, Obama supporters have just as vehemently tried to shout it down, as though being muslim would be some fatal character flaw.

I personally do NOT shout it down when I hear it passed around. I have always responded to the rumor with "And what if he was?"

I think it's a little bit of spin to say Dems are just as endorsing of the idea that "it's bad to be Muslim." I am sure you can find Dems who'd never vote for one (just as you'd find Dems who'd never vote for a black man.) But I think the outrage has a little more to do with the fact that, I dunno, it's a complete lie being made up to hurt our party by playing on ignorance. I think you'd see the same reaction from Dems if they heard from Republicans all the time that Obama had seven toes.

It would not make any difference whatsoever to me. I am not Christian and I have never even had the option of voting for a major party candidate who was not Christian, or at least did not heavily profess to be one. As long as their religious views (be they Sikh or Christian or Muslim or Buddhist) does not underline and inform their policy views on everything and God doesn't tell them which wars to start, my vote is within their potential reach.

[rvg]

I personally do NOT shout it down when I hear it passed around. I have always responded to the rumor with "And what if he was?"...

Realistically, it would likely be the kiss of death for his presidential bid.

[Koga No Goshi]

Realistically, it would likely be the kiss of death for his presidential bid.

Of course it would. No one denied most Americans are stupid and hypocritically prejudiced, even within the confines of the "freedoms" they profess to stand for.

[rvg]

Of course it would. No one denied most Americans are stupid and hypocritically prejudiced, even within the confines of the "freedoms" they profess to stand for.

Well, I will certainly deny that. People have a very natural tendency to gravitate towards their own kind. There's nothing wrong with that. Thus, Waspy McWaspers will always stand a better chance of getting elected than anyone else, while a muslim's chances will be slim provided that his opponent is not a complete idiot. People out of two similar choices people will always vote for a safer one. That's quite the opposite of being stupid.

[yesdachi]

Stupid is as stupid does.

[Strike For The South]

Nothing is wrong with it. Just people in Missouri seem to have a problem with it.

[HoreTore]

Well, I will certainly deny that. People have a very natural tendency to gravitate towards their own kind. There's nothing wrong with that. Thus, Waspy McWaspers will always stand a better chance of getting elected than anyone else, while a muslim's chances will be slim provided that his opponent is not a complete idiot. People out of two similar choices people will always vote for a safer one. That's quite the opposite of being stupid.

Uhm...... No, I'd say that's pretty much the definition of stupidity. Choosing your leader because of anything but skill and politics is downright retarded.

[Incongruous]

Uhm...... No, I'd say that's pretty much the definition of stupidity. Choosing your leader because of anything but skill and politics is downright retarded.

Don't be so dense, a person's political beliefs are not an independent construct, you and I both know that our backrounds and culture inform our daily lives.

Also, take down the high hand, I would call you a liar if you did not hold prejudices towards a certain group of people and would allow it to (in some degree) inform your view of them as politicians. It is human, dont you love humans?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Uhm...... No, I'd say that's pretty much the definition of stupidity. Choosing your leader because of anything but skill and politics is downright retarded.

Which doesn't preclude it being perfectly correct.

[Incongruous]

Of course it would. No one denied most Americans are stupid and hypocritically prejudiced, even within the confines of the "freedoms" they profess to stand for.

This is one of the issues, people such as yourself who profess to have no problems with Islamic presidents are slitting your own throats.
I find it amusing someone who claims a love of socialism to be so scathing of your fellow taxpayers, where is the respect?

This lack of respect and elitist midset will do nothing but cause your beliefs to fail, if you constantly gaze down at people they will push you over.

[CountArach]

This lack of respect and elitist midset will do nothing but cause your beliefs to fail, if you constantly gaze down at people they will push you over.

The standard answer to that being that education is not as affordable as it needs to be (It has been shown that as education increases racism decreases) and that a society that has racism deeply embedded within it will find that "trickles down" to the lowest class much better (As people find they have a lack of money they move towards racism and xenophobia, at least that is what some recent analysis down here as shown).

[Incongruous]

The standard answer to that being that education is not as affordable as it needs to be (It has been shown that as education increases racism decreases) and that a society that has racism deeply embedded within it will find that "trickles down" to the lowest class much better (As people find they have a lack of money they move towards racism and xenophobia, at least that is what some recent analysis down here as shown).

So, we all get an education and look down on the new lower classes?

Please, most higher education is paper thin, instilling nothing but soundbites, saying that that is the future is a condemnation of human intelligence.
As you get smarter, your prejudices simply get more...
cultured?

[Koga No Goshi]

This is one of the issues, people such as yourself who profess to have no problems with Islamic presidents are slitting your own throats.
I find it amusing someone who claims a love of socialism to be so scathing of your fellow taxpayers, where is the respect?

This lack of respect and elitist midset will do nothing but cause your beliefs to fail, if you constantly gaze down at people they will push you over.

I have no patience whatsoever for people who remain willfully stupid and uneducated, preferring to believe that just about everyone outside of the U.S. irrationally hates us and that none of the rules we apply to others seem to apply in quite the same way to ourselves.

I would wager, for instance, that the number of Americans most vehement in their condemnation of Islam includes many Americans who have never actually interacted with a Muslim in any direct fashion. These are people on message boards flaming away and "teaching" the silly naive people like me about how all Muslims want to kill me and Middle Easterners all hate America. I don't need to consult people on the internet to learn about Muslims or Middle Easterners. I have met, known, and worked with many in my real life. All of them have failed to kill me or "slit my throat."

That is not to say Islam doesn't have its issues and many Middle Eastern societies do not have problems. But I do have a problem with this pride we Americans take in how we accept difference and tolerate dissent and uphold respect for and freedom of religion and consider ourselves exceptional and the best nation in the world for it--- while tagging someone with the title of "Muslim" would disqualify them from President and a lot of people are happy to jump on a self-righteous horse that their religion is better and more moral and less violent than someone else's.

I also think that, while yes, some people in the Middle East hate the U.S. just because they've been taught to, and not for any personal or rational reason per se, I think that its counterpart in the U.S. of merely assuming that anyone who DOES hate us must necessarily be irrational and have no legitimate cause whatsoever is fully ignorant of our foreign policy, or doesn't care. They're just Arabs, if we blow them up or prop up dictators in their countries, well, they're no worse off than they'd be anyway right? They're just Arabs. I think that when America's foreign policy comes back to bite us we have a tendency to assume the role of the innocent victim and some of this is from ignorance and some of this is from a belief that their lives aren't worth as much as ours are.

And for the record, Strike, I never argued anyone got a pass for being a young religion. That was a perversion of my point by RVG and Panzer. But I did say, and still say, that anyone who believes there is something inherently written into the "code" of Islam which "makes it violent", which isn't present in Christianity and virtually every other religion, is just being ethnocentric and holding a double standard. The U.S. and every other country in North and South America only exist in their present forms precisely because Christians were willing to come over and kill people or deprive them of their land and basis for survival because they were non-Christian "savages."

[rvg]

But I did say, and still say, that anyone who believes there is something inherently written into the "code" of Islam which "makes it violent", which isn't present in Christianity and virtually every other religion, is just being ethnocentric and holding a double standard.

Yes, violent and oppressive stuff can be found in the holy texts of all major religions. The difference is that in this day and age most Christian societies ignore the oppression and violence, while most Muslim societies follow it. Religion is only as good as its followers.