Chasing away the agents of intolerance
I had been kind of annoyed the past few days to hear various people respond to the "Obama is an Arab/Muslim" thing with statements like "No, he's not, he's a decent Christian" (I'm conflating and paraphrasing several different things here, not quoting); I kind of wanted someone to at least add "--not that there's anything wrong with being Arab or Muslim." We've really got to get rid of the equation "Arab = Muslim = terrorist."
So the part of Powell's endorsement of Obama that pleased me the most was his defense of American Muslims. (Though the editor in me wishes he'd used the subjunctive for clarity--that is, he should've said "What if he were?" rather than "What if he is?")
And I was further heartened by a video that two unconnected friends on Facebook both posted today, in which some McCain supporters--most of them Muslim, and one of them officially affiliated with the campaign--confront some "Obama is a socialist with Islamic background" whackos, apparently outside a McCain rally.