As Barack Obama sends his message to the Muslim world, it’s fascinating to compare his statements, and those of his staff, with things he said during the presidential campaign. In his speech this morning, he said:
I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.
While the president was a little vague about his father’s religion, in a briefing before the speech, national security aide Denis McDonough was a bit more explicit:
I think the fact is, that the President himself experienced Islam on three continents before he was able to — or before he’s been able to visit, really, the heart of the Islamic world — you know, growing up in Indonesia, having a Muslim father — obviously Muslim Americans [are] a key part of Illinois and Chicago.
Contrast those statements to remarks Obama made to a Jewish organization in Cleveland in February 2008:
My grandfather, who was Kenyan, converted to Christianity, then converted to Islam. My father never practiced; he was basically agnostic. So, other than my name and the fact that I lived in a populous Muslim country for four years when I was a child, I have very little connection to the Islamic religion.
