In a speech to the Indian people, Obama addressed the claim that he’s been called a Muslim (indirectly):
In our lives, Michelle and I have been strengthened by our Christian faith. But there have been times where my faith has been questioned — by people who don’t know me — or they’ve said that I adhere to a different religion, as if that were somehow a bad thing. Around the world, we’ve seen intolerance and violence and terror perpetrated by those who profess to be standing up for their faith, but, in fact, are betraying it. No society is immune from the darkest impulses of man. And too often religion has been used to tap into those darker impulses as opposed to the light of God. Three years ago in our state of Wisconsin, back in the United States, a man went to a Sikh temple and, in a terrible act of violence, killed six innocent people — Americans and Indians. And in that moment of shared grief, our two countries reaffirmed a basic truth, as we must again today — that every person has the right to practice their faith how they choose, or to practice no faith at all, and to do so free of persecution and fear and discrimination.
What I find interesting is the odd placement of his statement defending his ‘faith’. He puts it in the same paragraph where he talks about religion being used tap into the ‘darkest impulses of man’ that lead to violence and such. Is he suggesting that he’s being discriminated against or something by those of us who believe he’s really a Muslim? It’s just odd being in this paragraph.
He also mentions being treated differently because of the color of his skin:
In both our countries, generations have worked to live up to these ideals. When he came to India, Martin Luther King, Jr. was introduced to some schoolchildren as a “fellow untouchable.” My grandfather was a cook for the British army in Kenya. The distant branches of Michelle’s family tree include both slaves and slave owners. When we were born, people who looked like us still couldn’t vote in some parts of the country. Even as America has blessed us with extraordinary opportunities, there were moments in my life where I’ve been treated differently because of the color of my skin.
Unlike others in our field, I’m not sure he’s playing the race card here. If he had attributed his comment about race to his political opposition, I’d agree wholeheartedly. But he doesn’t stick it to a timeline. He just says it generally and, well, it may be true.
(h/t: Daily Caller)