Fresh doubt was cast yesterday on a magazine’s allegation that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) attended a madrassah, or religious school that teaches a fundamentalist version of Islam.Hardi Priyono, deputy headmaster of the Basuki school in Indonesia, told CNN that his institution — which Obama attended four decades ago, beginning when he was 6 — is not a madrassah.
“This is a public school,” Priyono told CNN correspondent John Vause in Jakarta. “We don’t focus on religion.” Classes in Islam are offered to the predominantly Muslim students at the school, CNN reported.
That’s Howard Kurtz [1], this morning.
There’s a several problems with this rather thin denial. Among them:
* The Schoolmaster doesn’t mention what the school was 40 years ago.
* While the schoolmaster allows that Muslim classes are taught, “to the predominantly Muslim students at the school,” he doesn’t mention if Obama took part in them.
*We’re forced by logic to assume he did in fact take part in them; Why, I ask, would Obama’s father enroll him there, were it not for such classes being offered?
* Let’s remember, this charge comes from Hillary Clinton, not from some supposedly right-wing smear campaign. Democrats, if you can’t trust one of your brightest stars, what have you got?
Finally, the question: Has CNN taken sides, here?
Appendum: (David L) It is hard to treat CNN as if it were a reliable source. Still there are questions about Barack Obama that deserve a serious answer, CNN need not apply. Don Riehl, Riehl World View [2] poses one:
Googling around, his Father was said to have been a non-practicing Muslim and his Mother an atheist or secularist. So why four or five years in two religious schools? There were, I believe, a few fine International schools available in Jakarta at the time.
You read Don’s entire article here [3].
Here’s my question, from Don’s article:
In the Catholic school, when it came time to pray, I’d pretend to close my eyes, then peek around the room. Nothing happened. No angels descended.
If while in school according to Obama, “nothing happened” when he prayed, and today he claims to be a Christian, at what point in his life did something happen? Where is Obama’s Come to Jesus moment? As Obama describes himself, he dd not believe in Christ as child, to wit nothing. Now he professes to believe in Christ. So when did the transformation take place?