Team Obama’s vetting proves inexperienced, too
posted at 7:35 am on August 6, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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Just over a week ago, the Barack Obama campaign announced with some fanfare their new Muslim outreach director, Mazen Asbahi. Within a fortnight, the media and bloggers did the vetting that Obama and his team neglected, and found that Asbahi had a habit of speaking at events sponsored by fundamentalist mosques and had served on a board with a fundamentalist imam. Faster than one can say “the wheels of the bus go round and round”, Asbahi found himself underneath them:
Chicago lawyer Mazen Asbahi, who was appointed volunteer national coordinator for Muslim American affairs by the Obama campaign on July 26, stepped down Monday after an Internet newsletter wrote about his brief stint on the fund’s board, which also included a fundamentalist imam. …
In 2000, Mr. Asbahi briefly served on the board of Allied Assets Advisors Fund, a Delaware-registered trust. Its other board members at the time included Jamal Said, the imam at a fundamentalist-controlled mosque in Illinois. …
The eight-year-old connection between Mr. Asbahi and Mr. Said was raised last week by the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report, which is published by a Washington think tank and chronicles the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, a world-wide fundamentalist group based in Egypt. Other Web sites, some pro-Republican and others critical of fundamentalist Islam, also have reported on the background of Mr. Asbahi. He is a frequent speaker before several groups in the U.S. that scholars have associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Muslim Brotherhood, launched in the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, has given birth to radical Islamist groups for the last eighty years. Al-Qaeda indirectly owes itself to the MB, as did Ayman al-Zawahiri’s original Egyptian Islamic Jihad group, which now exists within AQ. The MB promote radical, political Islam, and preach violence in pursuit of their goals. If Asbahi spends his time engaging those groups, people can legitimately wonder what his intent was in joining Team Obama.
The big story isn’t so much how Asbahi would have been a threat to the US as a member of Obama’s campaign (answer: not much), but in how inept Obama and his team are at background checks. These will be the same people who appoint people to government posts if Obama wins the election. How many of these “mistakes” will occur then? Competence usually comes with experience, and Obama doesn’t demonstrate much of either.
On the other hand, maybe Obama and his team overreacted. After all, Asbahi didn’t spend nearly as much time on the same board with Said as Obama did with William Ayers.
Michelle has more.
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Eh, be careful here, Ed. I don’t think there’s any evidence to suggest this guy is himself involved with terror groups or that he joined Team Messiah in order to promote terrorist causes. He’s just another Chicago radical — i.e. the people with whom Obama spends his time. Ayers, Dohrn, Wright, and Pfleger were all, if memory serves, associated with Team Messiah at one time or another. It’s just further evidence of who Obama actually is.
Outlander on August 6, 2008 at 7:39 AM
And another great flaw of Obama’s that will go greatly unnoticed by the general public.
Grafted on August 6, 2008 at 7:42 AM
Friends.
Shy Guy on August 6, 2008 at 7:45 AM
Obama might have some difficulty finding a prominent Muslim for this “job” who has not in any way been associated with groups that have been linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, or mosques that have been funded by Wahhabi money, or imams that are “fundamentalist”. If he finds such a person, he might find that they might not be too popular within the community with which they are outreaching.
forest on August 6, 2008 at 7:52 AM
How much you wanna bet Mama Michelle played a part in selecting this yoohoo in the first place?
pilamaye on August 6, 2008 at 7:55 AM
You can tell a lot about a man/woman by looking at with whom they most comfortably associate.
coldwarrior on August 6, 2008 at 8:02 AM
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I’m gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
TheBigOldDog on August 6, 2008 at 8:07 AM
If they need Muslim outreach so bad, why not employ the one guy so far not doing much for Obama? Former President Clinton! He’s got all the right connections to the Wahabi action..
In any case I’m still coming to grips with the recent post about Al-Sadr and the Hezbollah clone he is setting up for Iran under the US noses!? No need to ‘outreach’, they are going to reach out to you soon it seems :(
saus on August 6, 2008 at 8:23 AM
Obama’s mistakes are coming fast and furious. I’m lovin it!
becki51758 on August 6, 2008 at 8:24 AM
inartful vetting.
fogw on August 6, 2008 at 8:26 AM
Islam is not radical, it is Islam. “Good” Islam is lazy backslidding Islam. Normal Islam wants all your stuff and you.
BL@KBIRD on August 6, 2008 at 8:28 AM
I wonder how much money obama is getting from our enemies?
elduende on August 6, 2008 at 8:37 AM
Minus your head, of course.
SouthernGent on August 6, 2008 at 8:39 AM
I can see why Obama gave this guy the pink slip, he’s looking for a terrorist symp with more street cred.
Obambi’s wants to keep it real.
NoDonkey on August 6, 2008 at 8:45 AM
Like these?
Palestinian brothers inside the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip are listed in government election filings as having donated $29,521.54 to Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign.
Buy Danish on August 6, 2008 at 8:46 AM
Buy Danish on August 6, 2008 at 8:46 AM
Exactly!
Now how much more of this money is floating around in his campaign?
elduende on August 6, 2008 at 8:51 AM
I want to be McCain’s adviser to Anglican sects formed since 1979. Where do I apply?
Akzed on August 6, 2008 at 8:58 AM
This tpoic can make an effective ad near the election. There will be more examples by then, so it will not be just an association of an Obama presidency and radical Islam.
Even with good intentions and character (a bad assumption IMO)Obama cannot lead without competent and reliable people.
Could any group vet people faster than Obama’s bus runs over them?
Without the competence to pick good people, Obama is a frightening prospect.
Right_of_Attila on August 6, 2008 at 9:03 AM
Everytime we turn around more Muslim connections are being exposed. I’m tired of B HUSSEIN. I just want Romney back.
PoliticallyIncorrectSandy on August 6, 2008 at 9:04 AM
Yeah, well at least he wasn’t the commissioner of an Arabian horse association!
Seixon on August 6, 2008 at 9:06 AM
Why, because Arabian horses are fundamentalist Jihadis?
Buy Danish on August 6, 2008 at 9:09 AM
So is Obama trying to reach out to all the “good Muslims” here in America? The ones we see every night on TV that are denouncing violence and terrorist acts? Oh never mind…
sabbott on August 6, 2008 at 9:14 AM
I seem to recall that Jimmy Carter had the problem. Obama is so retro!
highhopes on August 6, 2008 at 9:21 AM
Who says team Obama did not know about his ‘associations’. Mazen Asbahi is just another person in a long list of Obama associations that conservatives are not comfortable with.
brtex on August 6, 2008 at 9:25 AM
Well now you’ve done it! Your comments are sure to raise the brain-dead “vote McCain because he isn’t Obama” zombies. The mere mention of one of the more qualified candidates is enough to put these people on a warpath talking about how you are just a crybaby and you need to get behind McCain because he’s the candidate that isn’t Obama, etc….
Personally, I can defend my support of Romney by his positions. I get very uneasy having to frame any idea of supporting McCain with the opening arguement that he isn’t as bad as the other guy. If John McCain wants my support he’s going have to earn it by proving that he is listening to social conservatives and evangelicals (Huckabee doesn’t count because he isn’t really an evangelical). Time is running out and McCain seems more interested in making stupid comments about Paris Hilton than working on shoring up the GOP base by energizing them.
highhopes on August 6, 2008 at 9:28 AM
You are assuming this is a mistake.
It may not be, but a symptom of how Barry’s team think they can do or say anything without getting caught.
They should be learning, but aren’t, methinks. Angry they tried to appease Muslims, but not that they should choose different people.
Harry Schell on August 6, 2008 at 9:31 AM
“…a long list of Obama associations that
conservativesAmericansareshould in no way ever be comfortable with.”coldwarrior on August 6, 2008 at 9:33 AM
How long before Barry O does a “NAFTA/CAFTA” on this and quietly lets it slip that this guy was let go to make room for an Outreach more comfortable with radical islam?
GeneSmith on August 6, 2008 at 9:50 AM
The piles of bodies under the obamamessiah bus just keeps on a growing
Mojack420 on August 6, 2008 at 9:52 AM
We will need another Joe McCarthy to rout the Reds and subversives out of the Executive Branch after Hussein opens the barn door.
whitetop on August 6, 2008 at 9:56 AM
It’s called “roadkill”, Ed.
“Roadkill”.
newton on August 6, 2008 at 10:08 AM
Obama: NOTE TO STAFF: Get bigger bus.
GarandFan on August 6, 2008 at 10:15 AM
I was just thinking about this yesterday as I was reading the latest BS by Franklin Raines about Fannie Mae. Here we have Raines, Jamie Gorelick, and other seriously tarnished Democrats turning cartwheels trying to rehabilitate themselves and get noticed in this campaign -0 no doubt hoping for another cushy appointment in an Obama Administration. But the hell of it is that with a compliant Democrat-controlled Senate and a fawning media, there won’t be anyone other than the blogosphere to vet any of these appointments once Obama is President. So we can look forward to a whole Administration full of shady people like Raines, Jim Johnson, Gorelick, Greg Craig, Sandy Berger, and this Muslim guy. They may have been thrown under the bus for the campaign, but the bus will be long gone on January 21, 2009.
Bad appointments were a big part of the undoing of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and arguably of George W. Bush as well (Mike Brown, anyone?) This Obama campaign is surely not giving anyone much confidence that it will be any more competent at hiring than the last two presidents were.
rockmom on August 6, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Muslim outreach director? I wonder who his Methodist outreach director is.
Oldnuke on August 6, 2008 at 10:38 AM
Heh.
misterpeasea on August 6, 2008 at 10:57 AM
Big deal. So what if he has ties to muslim brotherhood, al qaeda,hezzbollah and nation of islam… Let’s elect him president!
SaintOlaf on August 6, 2008 at 12:57 PM
Muslim outreach director? I wonder who his Methodist outreach director is.
Oldnuke on August 6, 2008 at 10:38 AM
Don’t us Roman Catholics get outreached?
coldwarrior on August 6, 2008 at 1:47 PM
God help America in November……
ultracon on August 6, 2008 at 2:45 PM
So the OBLAHBLAH bus made another trip around the Chicago loop, and dumped off another body. This time, his Middle East hit connection man. Who’d thunk!
byteshredder on August 6, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Where have all the moderate Muslims gone…long time passing.
I like the OBLAHBLAH nickname, especially in conjunction with Barry Whosane…can I use it? ;-)
Christine on August 6, 2008 at 4:45 PM