A viable presidential candidate had to publicly disavow any Muslim association

Evidence

Obama had to “go stealth” with whatever associations he had with Islam or risk his chance at the U.S. presidency. On the campaign trail, Obama repeatedly asserted his commitment to Christianity, repeatedly assured the American public that he is not nor has he ever been Muslim. He distanced himself from his father’s Islamic faith, his Muslim relatives in Kenya, his childhood in Indonesia. He did not visit mosques despite invitations. … Despite these numerous attempts to discredit Obama—by turns inventive, amusing, and repugnant—he was elected president. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 1365

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors Obama’s own ‘A More Perfect Union’ speech on race, and contrasts with the later ‘Benghazi/emails’ period — shows the equivalence of Muslim and treason in U.S. political discourse. — connects to: Democratic leadership offered at most a tepid defense of Muslim religious freedom — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 660
• SEED: The political logic of ‘disavowal as prerequisite’ — what other identities require public renunciation before acceptance into American mainstream.