As Senator Barack Obama courted voters in Iowa last December, Representative Keith Ellison, the country’s first Muslim congressman, stepped forward eagerly to help.Ellison believed that Obama’s message of unity resonated deeply with American Muslims. He volunteered to speak on Obama’s behalf at a mosque in Cedar Rapids, one of the nation’s oldest Muslim enclaves. But before the rally could take place, aides to Obama asked Ellison to cancel the trip because it might stir controversy. Another aide appeared at Ellison’s Washington office to explain. “I will never forget the quote,” Ellison said, leaning forward in his chair as he recalled the aide’s words. “He said, ‘We have a very tightly wrapped message.’” When Obama began his presidential campaign, Muslim Americans from California to Virginia responded with enthusiasm, seeing him as a long-awaited champion of civil liberties, religious tolerance and diplomacy in foreign affairs. But more than a year later, many say, he has not returned their embrace.While the senator has visited churches and synagogues, he has yet to appear at a single mosque. Muslim and Arab-American organisations have tried repeatedly to arrange meetings with Obama, but officials with those groups say their invitations — unlike those of their Jewish and Christian counterparts— have been ignored. Last week, two Muslim women wearing head scarves were barred by campaign volunteers from appearing behind Obama at a Detroit rally In interviews, Muslim political and civic leaders said they understood that their support for Obama could be a problem for him at a time when some Americans are deeply suspicious of Muslims. Yet those leaders nonetheless expressed disappointment. “This is the ‘hope campaign’, this is the ‘change campaign’,” said Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota. Muslims are frustrated, he added, that “they have not been fully engaged in it”.Aides to Obama denied that he had kept his Muslim supporters at arm’s length. They cited statements in which he had spoken inclusively about American Islam and a radio advertisement he recorded for the recent campaign of Representative Andre Carson, Democrat of Indiana, who this spring became the second Muslim elected to Congress. In May, Obama also had a brief, private meeting with the leader of a mosque in Dearborn, Michigan. And this month, a senior campaign aide met with Arab-American leaders in Dearborn, most of whom are Muslim. “Our campaign has made every attempt to bring together Americans of all races, religions and backgrounds to take on our common challenges,” Ben LaBolt, a campaign spokesman, said in an e-mail message. LaBolt added that with religious groups, the campaign had largely taken “an interfaith approach.The strained relationship between Muslims and Obama reflects one of the central challenges facing the senator: how to maintain a broad electoral appeal without alienating any of the constituencies he needs to win in November.
