Obama calls and personally apologizes to the Muslim women who were barred from sitting behind him

[TeamJordan23]

Obama apologizes to Muslim women

Senator Barack Obama today called the two Muslim women who were barred from sitting behind him at his Detroit rally to apologize, one of the women and two other sources said.

"Senator Obama called himself and he apologized to each of us," one of the women, lawyer Hebba Aref, told me just now.

Aref, who had suggested that an appropriate fix might be seating her behind Obama at some future event, said she'd also discussed that possibility with his staff.

Aref and Shimaa Abdelfadeel had been barred from sitting behind Obama Monday by volunteers concerned that they would appear on camera with him wearing headscarves.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0608/Obama_apologizes_to_Muslim_women.html

[NotThisTime]

1. I'm glad he did the right thing by personally calling....

[Barack_America]

2. Good on him. nt

[Pirate Smile]

3. I knew he would call them personally.

[Kerrytravelers]

4. This, my friends, is the definition of class.

It's been a while since class has been in the White House.

[hisownpetard]

Every time, in every situation, I always wind up nodding and thinking, "He did the perfect thing."

God, what a fresh new breeze I'm feeling!
It's just delightful.

[Flying Dream Blues]

8. I feel exactly the same way. nt

[roguevalley]

18. I think what animates him, that resonates with us is a huge and

deep sensitivity to other people and their humanity. We have been so long among 'pols' and other cold-hearted reptiles that when a genuinely decent person who senses the humanity and anguish and hope in others comes along, we are flummoxed. Amazing.

[Fleshdancer]

5. Wow, that's wonderful!

I'm not surprised by this, but it's still nice to read about. I doubt McCain would ever do this.

[samdogmom]

6. This is a classy campaign. No one is perfect.

When his campaign makes a mistake, it is corrected in the right way! It wasn't right to deny these two supporters a seat behind Obama and I'm glad he personally tried to rectify the mistake. Clearly, our country will be in good hands if he is President.

[loyalkydem]

7. would McSame have done that?

I think not

[Heather MC]

10. I wonder would someone wearing Muslim attire be aloud into a McSame event?

Or a black person with a huge Afro, or a white guy with dred locks.

Remember He has people on his staff who have a history of keeping Black descendants of Thomas Jefferson, out of gatherings related to TJ.

I think it sucks that this will get blown up on the news, but if those woman had sat behind Obama, that to would have been a major issue, Obama can't win. ANd personally I think it was really shitty of those woman to make a public issue of this, if they really are Obama supporters.

I wonder if they were repuke plants? Seriously the whole things seems odd to me. As an Obama supporter, I would never want to do anything that would cause him embarrassment.

I applaud him for making the call, but I don't think those women should have made this such a big deal.

[City Lights]

9. Impressive.

:thumbsup:

[Catherina]

11. I'm VERY glad he did this. One of my Muslim friends just stopped by my cube

I showed him the Obama sock puppet and the racism shocked him. Then he asked me if I'd heard how Obama staffers had prevented two Muslim women....

I stopped him right there with a big smile and said "Obama called them and personally apologized to each one of them".

He asked me to send him the link so he can pass it on because this didn't go over very well in the Muslim community and I can't say I blame them one bit.

Thanks DU!

[NotThisTime]

12. I'm glad you could pass along that information.... good info to keep handy,it got a lot of airplay

[Catherina]

14. Here's another. I'm bookmarking both stories

:hi:

Barack Obama personally apologized over the phone today to the two Muslim women from Michigan who were barred from sitting next to him during a campaign rally because they wore Islamic headscarves.


Obama spoke over the phone to Shimaa Abdelfadeel and apologized to her, according to Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Walid said he spoke with the women and with an Obama campaign official who confirmed the apologies.

“Obama called to personally apologize to them and said, ‘it should never have happened,’’’ Walid said.

Obama left a voicemail for the other woman, Hebba Aref, 25, a Bloomfield Hills resident, according to Walid.

Phone messages left with Abdelfadeel and Aref were not immediately returned. A message left with an Obama spokeswoman was also not immediately returned.

Obama volunteers didn’t allow the two women to sit behind Obama at a Detroit rally on Monday out of fear their Muslim headscarves, known as hijab, would create a negative impression.

Walid praised Obama’s personal apologies.

“We welcome the Senator’s apology,” Walid said. “And we hope that he will continue to challenge bigotry wherever he sees it.”

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/NEWS15/80619066

[sandyj999]

13. That Man Has Class. n/t

[DevonRex]

15. He is just so nice. Good on him. nt

[Hoof Hearted]

16. I hope volunteers at future events are instructed not to do any more ethnic stagecrafting

Obama draws very diverse crowds of every shade, age and creed. They should just let people sit how they will and not attempt to manipulate them into some kind of "acceptable" or promotional campaign image.

Obama went above and beyond to do the right thing by these ladies, I hope his volunteers have learned from this how to do the right thing by him.

[blogslut]

17. Good

A personal apology. I can't remember when a candidate took the time to do that.

[JustAnotherGen]

19. I'd like to know why

I kept flipping from MSNBC and CNN and Dobbs and Tweety couldn't man up and follow up that they now owe HIM an apology.

[Greyskye]

20. Thanks for this

Forwarded to some Muslim friends who are still waffling on who to vote for. :thumbsup: