christ101
June 14th 2007, 10:05 AM
Thank you for inquiring about the false rumor circulating in cyberspace and fanned by the right wing media that I was educated in a madrassa when I was a child living with my mother in Indonesia.
This false rumor first appeared in Insight, a right wing magazine. CNN investigated Insight's claims and on January 22 aired a segment entitled, "CNN Debunks False Report About Obama," which declared that, "Reporting by CNN in Jakarta, Indonesia and Washington, D.C., shows the allegations that Obama attended a madrassa to be false."
I hope that this independent investigative reporting by a credible news source will lay this false story to rest. But there is also a larger issue exposed here; namely, the nature of contemporary politics.
Commenting on this false report, Washington Post staff writer Howard Kurtz observed that, "This, unfortunately, is how the media food chain works. A bogus charge appears in some magazine or on some website and works its way up to bigger news outlets, all based on little or no evidence." And observers note that it is hardly coincidence that this story broke as I announced my first formal step towards running for President.
For example, in a January 22 letter, a number of prominent religious leaders and heads of major denominations, including the head of the National Council of Churches, the National Baptist Convention, and Reform and Orthodox Jewish rabbis, wrote, "These outrageous charges began as reports of [Obama's] potential candidacy for President emerged. . .and have now been picked up as fact by Fox News and some partisan commentators. We are writing to deplore this despicable tactic and set the record straight. We have had enough of the slash and burn politics calculated to divide us as children of God. . . ."
That letter continues: "The bitter, destructive politics that have so riven our country in recent years cannot stand...certain moral standards should infuse our national dialogue, and the recent attacks on Sen. Obama violate values at the heart of this dialogue. The false and malicious attacks levied at him are anathema to all of our faith traditions, and we condemn them outright."
I did not make the decision to run for the Presidency of the United States lightly. My motivation is grounded in the belief that the decisions that have been made in Washington these past six years, and the problems that have been ignored, have put our country in a precarious place. Our economy is changing rapidly, and that means profound changes for working people. Americans are concerned about skyrocketing health care bills, the pensions they've lost and their struggles to pay for college. Our continued dependence on oil has put our security and our very planet at risk. And we're still mired in a tragic and costly war that should have never been waged.
But it's not the magnitude of our problems that concerns me the most -- it's the smallness of our politics. America's faced big problems before, but today our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, common sense way. Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions. That's why I am convinced that in order to come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans, we have to first change our politics in this country. That, I believe, is what the Insight report about my religion and my education is all about.
Again, thank you for writing. If you have any further questions about this matter, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
This false rumor first appeared in Insight, a right wing magazine. CNN investigated Insight's claims and on January 22 aired a segment entitled, "CNN Debunks False Report About Obama," which declared that, "Reporting by CNN in Jakarta, Indonesia and Washington, D.C., shows the allegations that Obama attended a madrassa to be false."
I hope that this independent investigative reporting by a credible news source will lay this false story to rest. But there is also a larger issue exposed here; namely, the nature of contemporary politics.
Commenting on this false report, Washington Post staff writer Howard Kurtz observed that, "This, unfortunately, is how the media food chain works. A bogus charge appears in some magazine or on some website and works its way up to bigger news outlets, all based on little or no evidence." And observers note that it is hardly coincidence that this story broke as I announced my first formal step towards running for President.
For example, in a January 22 letter, a number of prominent religious leaders and heads of major denominations, including the head of the National Council of Churches, the National Baptist Convention, and Reform and Orthodox Jewish rabbis, wrote, "These outrageous charges began as reports of [Obama's] potential candidacy for President emerged. . .and have now been picked up as fact by Fox News and some partisan commentators. We are writing to deplore this despicable tactic and set the record straight. We have had enough of the slash and burn politics calculated to divide us as children of God. . . ."
That letter continues: "The bitter, destructive politics that have so riven our country in recent years cannot stand...certain moral standards should infuse our national dialogue, and the recent attacks on Sen. Obama violate values at the heart of this dialogue. The false and malicious attacks levied at him are anathema to all of our faith traditions, and we condemn them outright."
I did not make the decision to run for the Presidency of the United States lightly. My motivation is grounded in the belief that the decisions that have been made in Washington these past six years, and the problems that have been ignored, have put our country in a precarious place. Our economy is changing rapidly, and that means profound changes for working people. Americans are concerned about skyrocketing health care bills, the pensions they've lost and their struggles to pay for college. Our continued dependence on oil has put our security and our very planet at risk. And we're still mired in a tragic and costly war that should have never been waged.
But it's not the magnitude of our problems that concerns me the most -- it's the smallness of our politics. America's faced big problems before, but today our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, common sense way. Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions. That's why I am convinced that in order to come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans, we have to first change our politics in this country. That, I believe, is what the Insight report about my religion and my education is all about.
Again, thank you for writing. If you have any further questions about this matter, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama