President Obama On American Muslims: They Are Part Of “Us”

It’s not often that President Obama says something I agree 100% with, but this is one of those times:

“We’ve got millions of Muslim-Americans, our fellow citizens, in this country. They’re going to school with our kids. They’re our neighbors. They’re our friends. They’re our co-workers. And when we start acting as if their religion is somehow offensive, what are we saying to them? I’ve got Muslims who are fighting in Afghanistan in the uniform of the United States Armed Services. They’re out there putting their lives on the line for us and we’ve got to make sure that we are crystal-clear — for our sakes and their sakes — they are Americans. We honor their service. Part of honoring their service is making sure they understand that we don’t differentiate between ‘them and us’. It’s just us.”

FILED UNDER: Religion, US Politics, , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Herb says:

    we don’t differentiate between ‘them and us’. It’s just us.”

    Obama continues his consistent message of unity.  Obviously, it’s not true in all cases, but “just us” sounds a lot like “no blue/red America, just the United States of America.”  When you contrast that to the “taking our country back” for the “Real Americans” message of his opposition…well, good thing (for them) that there’s a bad economy.

  2. Jane Sampson says:

    USA is the greatest freak show on earth.
    It has no culture, no unity. What a joke and a miserable place to live.
    Diversity is not strength; many cultures is no culture.
    USA was great when it was a homogeneous nation of Europeans.