Jim Sleeper discusses “why Barack’s victory makes prospects brighter for Christians, Muslims and Jews” at Reset Dialogues on Civilization:
Even as we lurch from symbolism to substance now that Barack Obama is President-elect, I hope that he appreciates the symbolic and substantive rewards of being sworn in on January 20 as “Barack Hussein Obama.” During the campaign, neo-conservatives such as Daniel Pipes and others of Obama’s detractors thought it smart to highlight his paternal Muslim roots and associations. But now that he’s won, anyone would have to be as naive as a neo-con to miss the nobility and world-historical gains this country would achieve if, having overthrown a bad Hussein, it installed a good one—not in Baghdad, but in Washington.
Read the full article here (and as originally published in Talking Points Memo). Also, check out here & there’s roundup on “Voting in a year when “Muslim” was a slur.”