poll shows Kucinich in 2nd place with Muslims
CAIR recently surveyed American Muslims (I submitted a response). One part of the survey asked about the 2004 elections:
The survey also looked at American Muslim views on political issues and on the current list of presidential candidates. When asked which Democratic Party candidate they would vote for, respondents favored Howard Dean (26 percent), Dennis Kucinich (11 percent), John Kerry (7 percent), and Carol Moseley Braun (6 percent). Only 2 percent said they would vote for President Bush.
It's a good start. Now, how can we improve it?
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There needs to be more public discussion among Muslims, so far as I search for that, all I'm finding is voter registration links. People like me are looking for Muslim community leaders to initiate a discussion. No one seems to be stepping forward yet to do that, so Muslims looking for guidance and an to follow someone's lead is left to fend for himself.
I'll give you an example...in my surfing I found an article describing how Kucinich has a "close friend" (basically been described as a girlfriend) who is a practising Jew, and that he has observed some Seders and other holidays with her in the homes of rabbis. That could cause Muslims to reject him without looking into it. It surprised me, honestly, but rather than rejecting, I want to take a closer look at the situation and I'm unable to do that without having analysis from the Muslim standpoint available to me. Muslim community leaders need to be opening up discussions, offline and on, and offering these analyses.
I've looked at the sites of MPAC, AMPCC, AMC, CAIR, and AMA, and no one's saying a thing beyond calling us to register. Aren't they supposed to be helping with more than that? Time is ticking away, and I don't want them to come out with a position statement two days after I have to send my absentee ballot in.
Zafira
Posted by: Zafira | September 11, 2003 07:05 AM
The major American Muslim organizations are planning to endorse a candidate so I assume that they'll be putting out more information in the future. There are still over four months until even the earliest of the primaries and over a year until the election.
Muslims should examine the records and statements of the candidates on the Middle East (see Kucinich's position statement, voting record, response to Arab-American group, work with Jewish peace group). Kucinich has worked with peace groups and recognizes that there must be justice for the Palestinians. The other candidates are all pro-Israel like most politicians are. Are Muslims going to pick one of those candidates instead because Kucinich has a Jewish (girl)friend? Are they going to abstain from voting altogether and let Bush win again? We deserve what we get in that case.
None of the candidates, even Kucinich is ideal. But we should try to find the one who has the most good points and the fewest bad points.
Posted by: Al-Munaqabah | September 11, 2003 08:55 AM
I wasn't saying it is a valid way of making a candidate choice, but whenever I hear any dialogue among Muslims concerning political candidates of any kind, the topic inevitably seems to devolve to that point and it's hard to steer around it. That is only my (limited) experience though. Your answer to my comment gave me a clue on how to get out of that trap...there's hope for me yet in politics.
Maybe the lack of sophisticated dialogue in favour of debates like "how close is he to the Jews" is what led Muslims to elect Bush last time around...I could be wrong, just a thought. But we voted for him (not me, but Muslims collectively), and that was maktub for better or for worse. A reminder for us to make a lot of istikhara before marking that ballot.
Thank you for all your useful resources.
Zafira
Posted by: Zafira | September 12, 2003 04:19 AM