Rewriting American History

Did you know the United States is a Muslim country?  That’s what the President is going to tell the Muslim world.  In an article about the President’s upcoming speech in Egypt, Obama Says U.S. Could Be Seen as a Muslim Country, Too

…In an interview with Laura Haim on Canal Plus, a French television station, Mr. Obama noted that the United States also could be considered as “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”

…“What I want to do is to create a better dialogue so that the Muslim world understands more effectively how the United States, but also how the West thinks about many of these difficult issues like terrorism, like democracy, to discuss the framework for what’s happened in Iraq and Afghanistan and our outreach to Iran, and also how we view the prospects for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Mr. Obama said.

The president said the United States and other parts of the Western world “have to educate ourselves more effectively on Islam.”

“And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world,” Mr. Obama said. “And so there’s got to be a better dialogue and a better understanding between the two peoples.”

What a crock.  Just one point:  if we’re a Muslim country as he claims, then why do we have to educate ourselves about Islam?  We should already know all about it, having a culture steeped in its traditions as we do in his fantasy statement.

The problem is not misunderstanding–the problem is fundamental differences in world views.  No magic words will change that.  And is “better understanding” code for “the West must change its world view?”    It wouldn’t surprise me.

Of course this garbage is meant to pander to Islamic audiences.  Apparently trashing our entire Western Enlightenment cultural history is a small price to pay for the approval of the Muslim street.