-By Warner Todd Huston
Bloomberg News is acting as if they know how “many Muslims around the world” feel about Barack Obama. In Bloomberg’s considered opinion, Obama is “just an American with a Muslim middle name” and won’t “advance” the “interests” of Muslims. The main point that Bloomberg seems to be trying to sell is that Barack Obama’s Muslim past will not make him tend to bow to world-wide Muslim sentiment. Bloomberg is obviously doing their best to prop up the Obama campaign by trying to allay fears that Obama will be a disaster on foreign policy. This is a perfect example of agenda journalism disguised as news.
So, how do the folks at Bloomberg know what the world’s Muslims think about Barack Obama? Is it polls? Did they conduct extensive interviews or research on how Muslims feel about Obama? No, it seems more like Bloomberg’s opinion is loosely based on the opinions of the three Muslims they quote and a broad interpretation of one poll on Obama and one on Muslim opinion of the US in general. It seems a rather wild leap in logic from the “evidence” they present to assume that they have a firm grasp on the opinion about Obama of all the world’s Muslims.
Bloomberg gives us the doubt about Obama’s effectiveness for implementing policy favorable to Muslims exhibited by a 24-year-old Palestinian medical student named Wessam al-Ghoul. We are also treated to the disappointment that University of Toulouse (France) professor Habib Samarkandi had over a recent Obama foreign policy speech and similar disappointment from Egyptian writer Atef Ghamri. These three men represents Bloomberg’s extensive interviews.
Wow. Three guys to represent all of Islam! That was conclusive, and all encompassing “proof,” eh?