Pure Blood

An outlet called Israel Insider is breathlessly telling us that *gasp* Obama's preacher, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, is an ex-Muslim! Indeed, they go a step further: "like Obama", Wright is an ex-Muslim, and they speculate that they are working in tandem to secure their political ambitions as Islamic spies:

For if both men were Muslims trying to realize their political ambitions, then Wright's Church provided a valuable shelter from prying questions about both men's religious and political loyalties. It would serve to whitewash their shared Muslim past, a secret both men have every reason to conceal, now more than ever.

Now, I've never understood why the Islamo-phobes in our community see "ex-Muslim" as a bad thing (for my part, I couldn't care less if you're ex-anything, so long as you're progressive -- which is why I can support the writings of ex-Muslim atheists like The Apostate, and the political campaigns of ex-Christian Muslim Keith Ellison). But now, I think we have a clue. Islam, it is implied, represents corruption of blood. Obama, by virtue of his father, and Wright, by virtue of his young flirtation with Islam, do not have Limpieza de sangre, and thus are suspect.

It's a sickening trope, all the more so coming from fellow Jews. Unfortunately, to a far larger extent than I'd like the Obama campaign is really bringing out some of the worst in my community (despite the strong and vocal support Obama gets from many Jews, which should not be washed over).