A Tightly Wrapped Message

I have been concerned with several issues relating to Barrack Obama's presidential run for the White House lately. One, of course, is that he has now indicated he will not accept governmental money for his race, but will instead raise all the money he can privately through his immense network of donors. I simply find the amount of money the candidates have been spending already in the primary to be obscene, especially as we consider the needs of the country. The issue, however, that has bothered me the most in recent days is that of his preaching diversity and getting along but making sure that he is surrounded by no Muslims.

Two examples have gotten publicity. One concerns two Muslim women wearing headscarves who were not allowed to stand behind Obama during a speech. The other is that of Keith Ellison, a Muslim U. S. Representative from Minnesota, who was not allowed to participate in a campaign rally because it would cause controversy. An aid to Obama told Ellison, "We have a tightly wrapped message."

I ask myself, "Is it possible to say one believes in diversity and then carefully control the message about diversity by censoring certain groups of people?" Yes, I know image is all-important. McCain has been criticized for surrounding himself with old people, and Hillary has been criticized for surrounding herself with women and blue collar workers. Do we really devalue the intelligence of the American voters so little by believing they will be adversely impacted by a couple of Muslims around the candidate? I would like to hope it is not so. Let's unwrap that message a bit.