Politics

Is the MSM Moving Toward the Secret-Muslim Theory?

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Because nothing says "newspaper" like being 36 hours late, today's Los Angeles Times devotes most of its front page and five pages of the A section to President Obama's Cairo speech. The lede from Peter Wallsten's page 1 analysis strays into my favorite Obama theory:

Reporting from Washington—As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama left some fuzzy edges to his biography. He affirmed strong support for Israel but implied a strong empathy for Palestinians. His personal story played up his introduction to the black church, leaving his father's Islamic roots in the shadows.

It was a narrative designed to ease any voter concern about Obama's background and counter false Internet rumors that he was a Muslim.

But now, with Thursday's speech in Cairo, Obama is laying bare more of his sympathies and inclinations in the volatile area of Middle East politics.

Fun fact: Wallsten was the villain in last fall's Rashid Khalidi video suppression scandal.

For me Prince Charles will always be the greatest of the crypto-Muslims, and the positive evidence for Obama's Islam is pretty thin. Among other things, the Indonesian stepfather who logistically was the only likely conduit for the faith is presented in Dreams From My Father as a polytheist of sorts. Still it's an interesting trope to keep out there, if only to reflect that Nobodaddy has obviously decided to punish Obama by giving him only daughters. Then again, keeping women lower than whale shit is pretty much the point of all religions—except my own faith of Solanism.

USA Today has a handy rundown of ways in which Obama edited the most holy and exalted mystic Quran to get cheers while avoiding the actual import of the passages. Which is not probative either way: In my experience all holy books are written so that you can't quote them honestly.