By Heidi Przybyla
July 16 (Bloomberg) -- The cover of this week's New Yorker magazine may explain why Barack Obama isn't reaching out to Michigan's Muslims.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is shown in the Oval Office, wearing a turban and bumping fists with his wife, Michelle, who is in combat boots with a rifle slung over her shoulder. The cartoon, intended as satire, is a reminder of the dangers of any association with Muslims for Obama, who has fought false rumors that his middle name, Hussein, indicates he was born into the Islamic faith.
Muslim- and Arab-Americans represent 4 percent of the vote in Michigan, a battleground in this year's election. Yet Obama, who has held 13 events in the state during the presidential campaign, hasn't visited a mosque or met with Muslim leaders.
Bill Ballenger, editor of the nonpartisan newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, said Obama, 46, has to strike a delicate balance. The Illinois senator "doesn't have to pander" to such voters, who are likely to back him anyway, though he can ill- afford to "dismiss them in an arrogant fashion." Read more ...
July 16 (Bloomberg) -- The cover of this week's New Yorker magazine may explain why Barack Obama isn't reaching out to Michigan's Muslims.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is shown in the Oval Office, wearing a turban and bumping fists with his wife, Michelle, who is in combat boots with a rifle slung over her shoulder. The cartoon, intended as satire, is a reminder of the dangers of any association with Muslims for Obama, who has fought false rumors that his middle name, Hussein, indicates he was born into the Islamic faith.
Muslim- and Arab-Americans represent 4 percent of the vote in Michigan, a battleground in this year's election. Yet Obama, who has held 13 events in the state during the presidential campaign, hasn't visited a mosque or met with Muslim leaders.
Bill Ballenger, editor of the nonpartisan newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, said Obama, 46, has to strike a delicate balance. The Illinois senator "doesn't have to pander" to such voters, who are likely to back him anyway, though he can ill- afford to "dismiss them in an arrogant fashion." Read more ...
Source: Bloomberg