Muslim Influence in the 2012 Presidential

electionBy: Brooke Aamodt

Politics and Muslims

There are over 7 million Muslims in the United States and that number rises each year which points out that the American Muslims have a strong community to sway which way the election goes every four years. A quarter of Muslims belong to no political party at all, from media analysis, most Americans feel that American Muslims are uneducated in politics when in reality they just choose not to vote. Many articles tried to turn images of negative American Muslim into positive ones. In the 2012 Presidential election the American Muslims tried to make their voices heard, 91 percent of the American Muslim population voted this year, higher than its ever been.

Obama vs. Romney vs. American Muslims

The 2012 Presidential election has passed, so we should all know that President Barack Obama has another four enduring years ahead of him once again. Why did American Muslims choose Barack Obama over Mitt Romney? Only 7 percent of the Muslim population voted for Romney while the opponent, Obama, received 66 percent of the American Muslim vote. Where do the current presidential candidates stand on issues of importance to the American Muslim community? When it came to the five top most important issues for Muslims in American, they picked jobs and economy, education, health care policy, Medicare and social security policy, and civil rights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uiTkhC35_M

Mitt Romney’s Perspective on American Muslim’s

The Republicans in the news are often portrayed as having “Islamophobia”. This Video contains Romney stating that there will never be Shariah law, which is a law and teaching from the Koran, applied to the constitution because we have laws to follow here as American citizens, whereas Obama just wants American Muslims to feel comfortable in their own country.

Is Obama favored by American Muslims because he is secretly Muslim??

An article about Barack Obama’s wedding band struck my attention along with most of Americans. Many believe its inscribed with the Islamic declaration of faith, while others are saying it’s doesn’t resemble the Shahada at all. Scholars are saying the symbols that are carved in gold say “There is no god but Allah”. Some sources feel it doesn’t have meaning at all but a lot of other sources respond by angrily saying it’s obvious that it is Arabic writing and that the Shahada is carved on it and some say they can’t tell what it is and need a closer look. While this article claims to question Obama’s religion and faith as a Muslim or Christian, he has said nothing about the ring until an interview last year. He did not deny the ring and what it meant, but he did state that he is a full blooded Christian. This article is calling him Muslim when a lot of them just seem unsure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCAffMSWSzY

Obama is Pro Muslim

“Their art, Music, literature and innovation had made the world a better place. The Muslim community developed the form of algebra, the magnetic compass and tools of navigation, our mastery of pens and printing, our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. They have fought in our wars, they have served in our governments, the have stood for civil rights, they have started businesses, taught in our universities, they have excelled in our sports areas, they have won Nobel prizes, built the tallest buildings, and they have lit the Olympic torch”. -Obama stating all the contributions that Muslims have given to America

The American Muslims vote for Obama because he is a promoter of peace, he has Muslim heritage, and he wants to help the Muslims of America achieve all that they can. This video named “Obama Admitting he's a Muslim” is degrading Obama is such a way that he is looked down on because Americans have not forgotten about the tragic 9/11 incident.

Terrorism seems to play a huge role in the American Muslim vote in the 2012 Presidential election. Muslims in America still take the verbal abuse from media, coworkers, and citizens of the streets from the incident on 9/11. A blog about the Ground Zero Mega Mosque has been causing some conflict. The Mosque has been built 2 blocks away from the World Trade Center and many Americans are outraged. Vicki McClure Davidson, the blog writer, has a perspective that Obama shouldn’t be allowing for this to happen in respect for the 3,000 people that died that tragic day. She wonders why a Greek Orthodox Church that was damaged on 9/11 has not been granted repair. Davidson makes an interesting point that why can’t the buildings that were severely damaged be rebuilt before adding new ones? I think the reasoning behind the Mosque is to promote freedom of speech, and so Muslims have the right to practice their religion in this country freely is important to some including President Barack Obama. Also I feel this Mosque serves to be insensitive to families who lost people close to them that day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Y810d7zVs&feature=player_embedded

The opinion from a news blog struck my attention, saying that Obama’s actions have not equaled what his pro-Islamic address states. The blog surprisingly, and angrily reports only a few accomplishments that he has made with Muslims over the past few years, when I feel that he has done so much more to attempt at making America peaceful again. From this article I get a harmful and danger some attitude towards the Islamic faith.

¡Muslim Swing Vote! A couple months previous to the election an article from The New York Times gave an opinion about the Muslim swing vote in the United states. Most American Muslims live in swing states like Florida and Michigan so there vote means a lot to the candidates. This article states that terrorism is not the problem in the United States, the problem is Shariah, where terrorism could eventually come from if it takes over the government. From this article I get a harmful and danger some attitude towards the Islamic faith. It seems to be very hostile towards American Muslims:

“ …the Muslim community an easy target in the primaries may find themselves in trouble in the states that may determine the winner of the election.”

“Republican candidates find it tempting and beneficial to bash Muslims as a way to attract voters.”

Sources• http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2012/09/election-2012-american-musli

ms-vote/• http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/islam-muslims-and-2012-elections• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/27/barack-obama-jesus-cross-painting-th

e-truth-controversial_n_2199073.html?utm_hp_ref=religion• http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/02/the-muslim-swing-vote/• http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/guess-who-u-s-muslims-are-voting-for/• • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uiTkhC35_M• http://www.cair.com/Portals/0/pdf/Muslim_Voter_Survey_2012.pdf• http://www.muslimlinkpaper.com/community-news/community-news/3195-americ

an-muslims-and-the-2012-election.html• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCAffMSWSzY• http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/11/us-usa-obama-abedin-idUSBRE87A01N

20120811• • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ4rn5z0LNw• http://www.newsrealblog.com/2011/05/18/obama-discovers-flip-side-of-identity-po

litics-as-muslim-groups-give-him-failing-marks/• http://www.frugal-cafe.com/public_html/frugal-blog/frugal-cafe-blogzone/2010/08/

23/as-more-americans-learn-about-ground-zero-mega-mosque-more-are-opposed-to-it-nyc-greek-orthodox-church-destroyed-on-911-still-not-permitted-to-rebuild-or-relocate-video/