If I Were Obama . . .
By Asma Hasan
Colorado, US
Blogging for Glamocracy for the past year has been the experience of a lifetime! I will miss the frantic wondering every Monday of what topic I should write on, the late nights on Tuesday, awaiting primary results before I file my entry, and the camaraderie, humor, and overall loveliness of my co-bloggers. You'll see me again in print in March, when my new book, Red, White, & Muslim, is published by HarperOne, but until then dear Glamocrats, I leave you with this musing.
If I were Obama, my journal/to-do list would read like this:
1. Propose and pass comprehensive immigration reform in the first 100 days. It's not only the right thing to do, but also documenting illegal workers will enhance our tax base, which is sorely needed even if we leave Iraq on a short time-frame.
2. Find an appropriate role for Hillary. A proper role befitting the first major female presidential candidate: maybe the first female Secretary of Defense. Reconsider appointing her to the first or second Supreme Court opening after a two-year stint in the Cabinet. She will serve our mutual causes of liberalism and progressiveness well in both positions, and she won't be a thorn in my side if she's on my side! (As for Bill, consider making him ambassador to a large Muslim nation or special liaison for the White House on Muslim Outreach as part of a greater effort to open dialogue with international Muslims.)
3. Try not to blame Bush too much and show some bipartisanship by appointing a respected, moderate Republican to my Cabinet. I don't want to keep the flames of anger over the Bush years burning by making excuses. (Note: ask Rahm to research ambitious Senate Republicans who would take the spot, leaving his/her seat open for a Democratic appointee, achieving additional goal of making the Senate filibuster-proof.)
4. Tell Michelle to give me the cold shoulder if I break my promise not to raise taxes on anyone who makes $250,000 or less. This threshold will be the litmus test on me. Don't give into pressure from Nancy or Barney to cave on this one. I have got to stick to it for at least two years!
5. Make sure to be sworn in as "Barack HUSSEIN Obama." Lead by example. Show people that if the president can embrace the stickier sides of his identity, so can they. It will be that in recognizing our perceived weaknesses, even the smallest ones, we will actually diminish them and replace the space left behind with a new-found strength in ourselves, our country, and the world. Yes, we can, and yes, we will.
Obama, Will You Visit a Mosque Now?
I'll admit it. It makes me very happy to see Obama win, mainly because I do consider him to be, if not my Muslim brother, a member of the wider Muslim community. Yes, I do know that he is not a Muslim. (Obama went out of his way a few times to point this out.) But his father was Muslim, and, even if his father was non-practicing or atheist, he was still, to me, culturally and by tradition, a Muslim.
I would consider someone like Obama, born to a Muslim parent, to be of Muslim heritage (and I don't mean to imply a "terrorist" heritage, but simply the partly-cultural, partly-genetic blessings of being of Muslim background). I take a great deal of pride in what is known in Islam as the umma, or the community of Muslims. To me, you don't have to be practicing Islam regularly to be my Muslim brother. Obama's Muslim heritage makes me feel like a member of my extended religious community is going to be in the White House.
The vehemence with which Obama denied being Muslim bothered me often, but I understood that he needed to flat out deny any Muslim inclinations, even heritage, minus any mitigating statements, to preserve the votes of those who may not be as open-minded as many of his supporters. But now that he's won, and with a clear mandate, I think he can scoff at that criticism and do what I know must be in his heart. He can embrace those parts of his identity that he couldn't before. I'm not saying he has to declare that he really is a Muslim (and certainly, he is not).
I am just hoping that since the stigma of being Muslim, as it turns out, doesn't have as much of a bite as we thought it would, I think he can now go visit a mosque! I would like to personally invite Obama to visit the Colorado mosque I go to, which is frequented largely by African immigrants. Those immigrants were no doubt thrilled by his victory and played a role in his win in this swing state. I would like to see our new, talented president-elect turn a smear into a beauty mark!
What are you hoping our new president will do?
Editor's Note: Reprinted from Glamour.com with permission of the author. Please read the original blog posting at: http://www.glamour.com/contributors/asma-hasan
