Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore (L), Presumptive U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm acknowledge supporters during a campaign stop at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, June 16, 2008. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

About 20,000 Barack Obama supporters cheered on the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Monday, including Arab Americans who said they were willing to overlook distance the candidate has put between his campaign and Arab and Muslim communities.

The massive, diverse crowd waited in line for hours to make their way through security and see Obama speak at the rally, where he received endorsements from former Vice President Al Gore and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Granholm said Michigan has lost 400,000 manufacturing jobs since George W. Bush became president.

“We are not here to complain,” she said. “We’re no whiners. We’re doers in Michigan. And we’re not here just to be mad. We’re here tonight to get even.”

Obama urged the crowd to knock on doors, make phone calls, drag friends and family to the polls in November and make sure everyone they know gets registered to vote.

He spoke about energy reform, economy and change, taking shots at Bush at every turn, to deafening response from the crowd.

“It was very inspiring,” said Republican Becky Stepp, of East Lansing.

She said global warming and the Iraq war drove her to support Obama, despite being a conservative.

“His environmental policies are very important to me,” said Stepp, 25.

“I am very conservative as far as the economy,” she said.

While she doesn’t agree with liberal economic policy, she “can put up with it because the other issues are so important to me.”

Obama supporter Rashid Baydoun, a Dearborn Arab American who attended the rally, helped rile up the crowd from his seat, starting chants of “Yes we can!” and “Detroit-Obama!”

Baydoun even used all his energy at one point to start the wave, getting it to flow throughout the entire arena.

“We need to support him no matter what,” he said.

Baydoun, a 22 year-old communications student at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, said that domestic issues, like rising, backbreaking tuition costs, are the most important issues to him.

He said that despite being offended by some statements Obama has made on foreign policy, he will continue to support him wholeheartedly.

Earlier this month, Obama declared to a group of lobbyists for Israel that Jerusalem must remain the undivided capital of Israel, angering many Arab Americans for whom the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a top issue.

“It was baffling. I was very offended,” said Baydoun, 22. “But we have to be very understanding. He’s facing a lot. He has to beef up his image among Jewish communities in America. By default, his middle name (Hussein) makes him vulnerable to attacks.”

Obama has also irked many Arabs and Muslims by having to repeatedly distance himself from his father’s Muslim heritage, reassuring voters that he is a Christian, without making it clear that there’s nothing wrong with being Muslim.

At the rally Monday, campaign workers even prevented two women wearing hijab from standing behind Obama within camera shot.

“Anything that he says or does is going to be magnified,” Baydoun said about the incident. “We have to be more tolerant.”

He said that issues like health care and funding for social programs are too important to turn away from Obama because of a few “blunders.”

“He said at the rally that after-school programs need to be funded. These are the important things,”Baydoun said.

Other student activists at the rally echoed Baydoun’s stance on the importance of domestic issues.

“We really want to believe in something,” said 20 year-old UM-D pre-law student Sarah Jaward.

“It’s like I want to believe that we can elect someone who can be fair and just in foreign policy, but it’s not going to happen. Not any time soon. My focus now is more on domestic issues.”

Jaward said that as a minority, Obama is someone that she, as an Arab American, can relate to.

“He doesn’t fall under your typical candidate. He breaks the mold,” she said.

Baydoun said Arab Americans have to be more actively involved if they ever want candidates and elected officials to truly address their concerns, including foreign policy.

“We can protest until our faces turn blue,” he said. “But until we start getting involved in politics, we are not going to get anywhere.”

He said that what Obama does recognize, are the economic issues facing Michigan, and that, he said, should be enough to turn out support.

“He knows how important Michigan is,” he said. “Michigan is a swing state. I truly believe the Arab American vote will determine this election. It’s that close.”

Polls show that support for Obama and Republican presumptive nominee John McCain in Michigan are about equal

The students said they believe that as a Democrat, Obama would also be less likely to start wars, like in Iraq, or to support blockades, like in Gaza.

“At the end of the day, I still think he’s better than McCain,” said Jaward.

Obama said before the rally at another stop during his two day trip to Michigan that he plans to visit Iraq and Afghanistan before November’s election.

McCain, who last campaigned in Michigan May 7, plans to visit for two days in July.

 

Leaders demand acknowledgment

In a meeting with Black, Hispanic and Arab American community leaders on Tuesday morning, Obama was asked by The Arab American News Publisher Osama Siblani about his previous statements on keeping all of Jerusalem under Israeli control.

Siblani said he asked Obama “why he went so far.”

Obama said he would discuss the issue later, in private.

Siblani said he was asked by an aide afterward to provide contact information so the campaign could get back to him.

“I said, ‘Forget it.’ But one day he will have to face these questions,” Siblani said.

“Because of the intensity of the issues facing the Arab American community in the U.S., such as immigration, the erosion of civil rights, Iraq, tensions with Iran,  Lebanon, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, there should be a meeting and a serious dialogue directly with the Arab American community, with the belief that this community can play an important role in national security and in bridging the gap between the Arab World and the US.”

Imad Hamad, of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, also said he’s been frustrated with the community being ignored.

“Obama and McCain are making a great mistake not meeting directly with Arab American community leadership,” he said.

“No one denies that Obama represents a very energetic and unique spirit. But that does not take away the importance of the other issues. The Arab American vote is not a free vote.”

“He picked one of the most controversial issues and did not address it wisely,” Hamad said about Obama’s comments on Jerusalem.

Hamad said both McCain and Obama ignored appeals from ADC to attend the group’s annual national convention, held last week in Washington, DC. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader was the only presidential candidate to attend.

“It’s very saddening. Neither of them even addressed the convention. That’s a slap in the face,” Hamad said.

Siblani, Hamad and other local leaders are planning a meeting for Arab American activists to gather to discuss upcoming elections on all levels.

The meeting is set for Wednesday, June 25, at the Lebanese Heritage Club in Dearborn.

“The meeting is an effort to have a unified community approach to the elections,” Hamad said.

ADC and the Arab American Political Action Committee also plan on kicking off a voter registration drive this weekend at the Dearborn International Arab Festival. The effort will continue and expand to include door-to-door activity, Hamad said.

“The Arab American vote is going to be a determining factor in this election,” he said.