Gag Moi Again

Harpoon Siddiqui applauds Obama's supineness and obsequiousness (which has earned him the scorn of Arabs), comparing it favourably to Stephen Harper's methodology:

Not only has Obama tried to move away from broad-brush rhetoric but he has challenged anti-Muslim bigotry at home. He spoke out, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, against those opposing the “Ground Zero mosque,” for example.

During Ramadan, the president hosted an iftar, the dinner that marks the end of the day-long fast. Referring to 9/11, he said:

“Muslim Americans were innocent passengers on those planes, including a young married couple looking forward to the birth of their first child. They were workers in the Twin Towers. They were cooks and waiters but also analysts and executives. There in the towers where they worked together, they came together for daily prayers and meals at iftar . . . In the United States, there’s no ‘them’ or ‘us.’ It’s just us.”

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg rallied his nation by emphasizing that the best response to Breivik was to reassert their inter-religious solidarity. And on the festival of Eid that marks the end of Ramadan, he dropped in at the house of a Norwegian Turkish couple.

Harper has been less inclusive. He has systematically shunned mainstream Canadian Muslim organizations. He talks about Muslims but not to Muslims, except the handful who attack fellow-Muslims and Islam or echo his prejudices.

More insidiously, he has followed a divide-and-conquer electoral policy of wooing smaller minorities that have come to Canada escaping persecution in Muslim lands — Coptic Christians from Egypt, Bahais from Iran, Ahmadis from Pakistan...

"Insidious" is the perfect word--to describe Harpoon Siddiqui all his works.