Other-ness

On the road from Abu Dhabi to Dubai

They haven't shut it off yet, so BobOnABlackberry is still in business, surfing the Times while on the highway back to Dubai and sending text messages on the oh-so-dangerous Blackberry Messenger service to friends here and back home.

Among the many fascinating reads on today's nytimes.com was the piece about how an increasing number of Americans believe that Obama was not born here and is a practicing Muslim. Surprise! More and more of us think he is some kind of foreign Muslim masquerading as an American, presumably to bring us all to an apocalyptic end. Who knows?

What was interesting to BobOnARoll were the numbers themselves---only 18 pct believe he is Muslim and less than a third believe he was born outside the US. Ridiculous, of course, but if I were an Obamite, I'd be encouraged by these numbers. After all, don't recent poll data show that nearly half the American people doubt the validity of the theory of evolution, and roughly the same proportion believe that the Almighty God created heaven and earth and the plants and creatures thereof in less than 7 days.

The racism underlying these numbers are as plain as a pimple on the Ivory Girl. Most folks don't like to admit to racism but will be freer to confess to believing that there is just something not quite American about that guy. Hawaii? is that really an American state? Hmm, not sure. Let's ask grandma.....

I'm not sure which is a more threatening form of theocracy---places like Iran where the mullahs and the faithful are at the top of the heap? Or America, where the White House feels forced to issue a statement that yes indeed the president prays every day and we have the Christians over here to prove it!!