tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/muslims-in-america-24667/articlesMuslims in America – The Conversation2019-04-11T10:42:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1131682019-04-11T10:42:44Z2019-04-11T10:42:44ZMuslims arrived in America 400 years ago as part of the slave trade and today are vastly diverse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268456/original/file-20190409-2931-vj92z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An attorney for the Muslim enclave of Islamberg prays in a mosque in Tompkins, New York. American Muslims have a history going back 400 years. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Muslim-Enclave/f2e63aae36554942a24ff27b42d84678/531/0">AP Photo/Mark Lennihan</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most Americans say <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/07/17/how-many-people-of-different-faiths-do-you-know/">they don’t know a Muslim</a> and that much of what they understand about Islam is from the media. </p>
<p>It’s not surprising then to see the many misunderstandings that exist about Muslims. Some see them as outsiders and a <a href="https://www.ispu.org/journalists/#mythbusters">threat to the American way of life</a> and values. President Donald Trump’s controversial policy to impose a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/06/26/623646426/looking-back-at-the-timeline-of-president-trumps-travel-ban">ban on Muslims</a> from seven countries entering into the United States played into such fears.</p>
<p>What many don’t know, however, is that Muslims have been in America well before America became a nation. In fact, some of the earliest arrivals to this land were Muslim immigrants – forcibly transported as slaves in the transatlantic trade, whose <a href="http://www.400yearsofinequality.org/">400th anniversary</a> is being observed this year.</p>
<h2>The first American Muslims</h2>
<p>Scholars estimate that as many as <a href="https://www.crcpress.com/African-Muslims-in-Antebellum-America-Transatlantic-Stories-and-Spiritual/Austin/p/book/9780415912709">30% of the African slaves brought to the U.S.</a>, from West and Central African countries like Gambia and Cameroon, were Muslim. Among the difficulties they faced, were also those related to their faith.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.ispu.org/scholars/saeed-khan/">scholar</a> of Muslim communities in the West, I know African slaves were forced to abandon their Islamic faith and practices by their owners, both to separate them from their culture and religious roots and also to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=xKsLCx2VmcwC&lpg=PP1&dq=muslims%20civil%20rights%20act%20immigration&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=muslims%20civil%20rights%20act%20immigration&f=false">“civilize”</a> them to Christianity. </p>
<p>Historian <a href="http://www.sylvianediouf.com/">Sylviane Diouf</a> explains how despite such efforts, many slaves <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479847112/servants-of-allah/">retained aspects of their customs and traditions</a>, and found new, creative ways to express them. Slave devotionals sung in the fields, for example, kept the tunes and memory of a bygone life alive well after the trauma of dislocation.</p>
<p>Diouf argues that blues music, one of the quintessential forms of American culture, can <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479847112/servants-of-allah/">trace its origins</a> to Muslim influences from the slave era. She also demonstrates how the famous blues song, “Levee Call Holler,” has a style and melody that comes from the Muslim call to prayer, the “adhan.”</p>
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<p>Blues has also influenced a host of other American music genres, from country to rock ‘n’ roll, and the most well-known of American musical forms, jazz. The famous jazz player <a href="https://www.johncoltrane.com/">John Coltrane</a>, known for his seminal work <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ph-ODQAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=A%20love%20supreme%20allah%20supreme&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=A%20love%20supreme%20allah%20supreme&f=false">“A Love Supreme,”</a> appears to be influenced by the cadence of Islamic prayers and devotionals.</p>
<p>Scholar <a href="https://sipa.columbia.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/hisham-aidi">Hisham Aidi</a>, author of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/1199/rebel-music-by-hisham-d-aidi/9780307279972/">“Rebel Music,”</a> along with a <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/John_Coltrane.html?id=sNIGngEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description">host of jazz musicians</a>, argues that Coltrane is singing “Allah Supreme” in the Islamic devotional style of “dhikr,” or remembrance of God. </p>
<h2>The Muslim communities of America today</h2>
<p>Today’s America incorporates a large diversity of Muslims, who have immigrated from many parts of the world. Many <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=xKsLCx2VmcwC&lpg=PP1&dq=muslims%20civil%20rights%20act%20immigration&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=muslims%20civil%20rights%20act%20immigration&f=false">immigrated</a> after the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=xKsLCx2VmcwC&lpg=PP1&dq=muslims%20civil%20rights%20act%20immigration&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=muslims%20civil%20rights%20act%20immigration&f=false">They are from</a> Africa and the Middle East, as well as South and Southeast Asia. African American Muslims, descendants of the slave generations in this country, comprise a sizable chunk – about 20% – somewhere between 600,000 to 850,000 – <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/03/new-estimates-show-u-s-muslim-population-continues-to-grow/">of the total Muslim population in the</a> in the United States. </p>
<p>In this diverse mix are also those who belong to the Nation of Islam – a political and religious movement founded by <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VdcQNcJZoSgC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">Elijah Muhammad</a> in the 1930s. Muhammad, son of former slaves, wanted to promote black empowerment in the face of racism. The number of those who belong to the Nation of Islam have greatly declined since then.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://theconversation.com/eid-al-fitr-2016-understanding-the-differences-among-americas-muslims-61347">diversity is reflected</a> in the customs, interpretations and rituals practiced by the many denominations here. It is also reflected in the racial, ethnic and cultural composition of the community, or perhaps more accurately, a group of communities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268459/original/file-20190409-2935-16kmi8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268459/original/file-20190409-2935-16kmi8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268459/original/file-20190409-2935-16kmi8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268459/original/file-20190409-2935-16kmi8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268459/original/file-20190409-2935-16kmi8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268459/original/file-20190409-2935-16kmi8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268459/original/file-20190409-2935-16kmi8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There is a large and diverse Muslim community in the U.S. today.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Divided-America-American-Moments/ae11b33133344a8c8df1b1fccc687704/81/0">AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin</a></span>
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<p>All these differences can make interaction between these communities a challenge. But American Muslims, despite their complex histories, have learned to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VhDRXHU8zzYC&lpg=PP1&dq=immigrant%20black%20american%20muslims&pg=PR9#v=onepage&q=immigrant%20black%20american%20muslims&f=false">blend experiences</a> that are truly unique. </p>
<p>As more recently arrived immigrant Muslims interact with their coreligionists whose legacy dates back 400 years in this country, new engagements inform the new reality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113168/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saeed Ahmed Khan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Muslims are not new to America. The first Muslims came as slaves and left a deep influence on a host of music genres, such as the blues and jazz.Saeed Ahmed Khan, Senior Lecturer, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/609912016-06-15T09:49:40Z2016-06-15T09:49:40Z48 hours as a Muslim American: A professor reflects<p>What a difference 48 hours can make. </p>
<p>Last Friday afternoon, before a global audience, former president Bill Clinton (a Christian) and comedian Billy Crystal (a Jew) <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/11/sports/lonnie-billy-crystal-bill-clinton-eulogies-for-muhammad-ali.html">eulogized “the Greatest,”</a> the most famous Muslim American of all time, Muhammad Ali.</p>
<p>The televised audience also took in Islamic invocations, recitations from the Qur’an, and, if they listened carefully, gleeful shouts of “Allahu akbar” (“God is the greatest”) from many of the thousands of attendees who packed Louisville’s KFC Yum! Sports Arena for the memorial service. President Barack Obama <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/06/10/president-obamas-tribute-muhammad-ali-he-will-always-be-america">declared </a>that Ali “will always be America.” And prior to his passing, a <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/nba-honors-muhammad-ali-with-moment-of-silence-before-finals-game-2-010831328.html">moment of silence</a> in his honor was taken before tip-off at two NBA Finals games, once at Oracle Arena in Oakland, another time at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.</p>
<p>On Sunday, Americans awoke to the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/us/orlando-shooting.html">tragic news</a> that a young Muslim American had perpetrated the deadliest mass shooting in American history when he took the lives of dozens of innocents at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub. </p>
<p>His proclaimed affiliation to ISIS and reports of his homophobia and anger problems were all over the news. </p>
<p>Presidential candidate Donald Trump <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/283211-trump-orlando-killer-shouted-allah-hu-akbar-as-he">tweeted</a> that the shooter reportedly shouted “Allahu akbar” during the horrific rampage. President Obama condemned what “was an act of terror and an act of hate.” And a moment of silence in honor of the victims was taken prior to tip-off at the most recent NBA Finals game in Oakland.</p>
<p>To say this past week has been a turbulent one would be an understatement. </p>
<p>Numerous Muslim Americans expressed how pleasantly surprised they were at seeing widely broadcast positive portrayals of their coreligionists in a nonetheless sobering Ali memorial. </p>
<p>At the Louisville, KY Islamic funeral service, the prominent Muslim American scholar Sherman Jackson had declared, “Ali put the question as to whether you could be a Muslim and an American to rest.” What is more, “Ali made being a Muslim cool.” </p>
<p>But with vile criminals such as the above-mentioned shooter (whose name I shall not bother to mention) dominating the headlines, it is easy to see why many Americans see Muslims as being very uncool.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/markaz/posts/2015/12/09-what-americans-think-of-muslims-and-islam-telhami">Surveys show</a> that non-Muslims who do not regularly interact with Muslims tend to have a significantly more negative impression of them. This should not come as a surprise given recent events and the media coverage of these events. </p>
<p>It certainly does not help that there exist numerous misconceptions and oversimplifications about both Islam and Muslims that are widely propagated online. (Of course, one could say something similar about America itself. If Islam and Muslims have a “public relations problem” in the West, the same is true for <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/06/23/1-americas-global-image/">America and Americans</a> in many countries overseas.) </p>
<p>Indeed, as a professor of religious studies, I find that I spend much of my time debunking popular myths.</p>
<h2>The demographics</h2>
<p>The reality is that with a population of <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/01/06/a-new-estimate-of-the-u-s-muslim-population/">over three million,</a> most Muslim Americans are not nearly as “great” as Ali; and they are certainly nothing like the Orlando shooter. The reality is that most Muslims are everyday people. </p>
<p>Muslim Americans are extremely diverse: <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/section-1-a-demographic-portrait-of-muslim-americans/">63 percent are immigrants hailing from 77 countries</a>. They are, on average, relatively young. Their levels of education mirror those of the U.S. population as a whole. As a <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2007/05/22/muslim-americans-middle-class-and-mostly-mainstream2/">Pew survey</a> put it several years ago, they are “decidedly American in their outlook, values and attitudes.” </p>
<p>What is more, they have been here for a long time. </p>
<h2>Coming to America</h2>
<p>Some arrived on <a href="http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/islam-in-america/">slave ships</a> centuries ago. Others – including famous figures such as Ali, Malcolm X, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, author <a href="http://gwillowwilson.com/">G. Willow Wilson</a>, singer Jermaine Jackson, comedian Dave Chappelle and a 19th-century writer and U.S. Consul to the Philippines named <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/a-muslim-in-victorian-america-9780195187281?cc=us&lang=en&">Alexander Russell Webb</a> (1846-1916) – chose to convert to Islam. </p>
<p>Most – including numerous physicians, researchers, business owners and cab drivers – immigrated to this country to seek a better life, and, in the process, like other immigrants, made America a better country. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126606/original/image-20160614-22386-dgzo3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126606/original/image-20160614-22386-dgzo3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126606/original/image-20160614-22386-dgzo3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126606/original/image-20160614-22386-dgzo3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126606/original/image-20160614-22386-dgzo3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126606/original/image-20160614-22386-dgzo3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126606/original/image-20160614-22386-dgzo3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Fazlur Khan’s iconic John Hancock Center in Chicago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Hancock_Center2.jpg">Antoine Taveneaux</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>One such immigrant was the late <a href="https://drfazlurrkhan.com/">Fazlur Khan</a>, an architect originally from Bangladesh who designed the iconic Sears Tower (now called Willis Tower) and the John Hancock Center in Chicago. And just this past year, another immigrant, this time from Turkey, scientist<a href="http://www.med.unc.edu/biochem/people/faculty/primary/asancar"> Aziz Sancar,</a> received the Nobel Prize, making him the second Muslim American Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. (The first was Egyptian-American <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1999/zewail-bio.html">Ahmed Zewail</a> in 1999.) </p>
<p>Finally, many Muslims – from hip-hop artist <a href="http://www.lupefiasco.com/">Lupe Fiasco</a> to U.S. Army Specialist and Purple Heart recipient <a href="http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/krkhan.htm">Kareem Khan</a> (who was killed in combat in 2007) – were born into Muslim families right here in the United States. According to the Pentagon, there are almost 6,000 Muslims <a href="http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/5000-muslims-serving-us-military-pentagon/story?id=35654904">currently serving</a> in the U.S. military.</p>
<p>The Islamic State does not even account for one percent of one percent of the worldwide Muslim population. And among the many devout Muslim Americans I know personally, I have yet to meet or even hear about a single ISIS sympathizer; I see only looks of disgust whenever they’re mentioned. </p>
<p>Such sympathizers <a href="https://homeland.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/TaskForceFinalReport.pdf">obviously exist</a>. But this relatively small collection of individuals represent only themselves.</p>
<p>A friend on Facebook shared a story about how he came to learn about the Orlando shootings. He was passing through an airport when he noticed a crowd huddled around a television screen. When it was revealed that the shooter came from a Muslim family, a man in the crowd remarked, “Those damn Muslims.”</p>
<p>Three million diverse, overwhelmingly peaceful and productive Muslim Americans reduced to “those damn Muslims.” </p>
<p>Interestingly, just hours before the attack in Orlando I was discussing the Ali memorial service with a group of Muslim friends. Though sad about the passing of “the Greatest,” they all had smiles on their faces as they recounted the speeches from the service and imagined the effects those speeches might have on the broader American public. They had never felt better represented. At that moment, at least, they felt cool.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: An earlier version mistakenly identified Lexington, KY instead of Louisville, KY as where Muhammad Ali’s funeral took place.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60991/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mohammad Hassan Khalil does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Who are American Muslims? And what is their history?Mohammad Hassan Khalil, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Muslim Studies program, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/542282016-02-10T11:06:30Z2016-02-10T11:06:30ZObama’s speech at Baltimore mosque was powerful, but was anyone listening?<p>Last Thursday, President Barack Obama visited a mosque at <a href="http://www.isb.org/default.aspx">the Islamic Center</a> in Baltimore, Maryland. He delivered an unusually long and nuanced <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/03/remarks-president-islamic-society-baltimore">speech</a> on the status of the Muslim community in the United States. </p>
<p>Because of the recent terrorist attacks in <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/paris-attacks-2015">Paris</a> and <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-bernardino-shooting-live-updates-htmlstory.html">San Bernardino</a>, in combination with the over-the-top <a href="https://theconversation.com/scholars-trumps-call-to-ban-muslims-is-un-american-52065">rhetoric</a> of Donald Trump and other GOP candidates in the presidential primary campaign, Muslims in the United States have been having a pretty rough time of it lately. Attacks on Muslims and their institutions in the United States <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hate-attacks-muslims-u-s-spike-after-recent-acts-terrorism-n482456">have dramatically increased</a> since November. </p>
<p>In an attempt to reassure the community and, just as importantly, communicate with the American public and the media, President Obama gave us a script for dealing with a religious minority in a liberal democracy. In his speech, he said,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you’re ever wondering whether you fit in here, let me say it as clearly as I can, as president of the United States: You fit in here – right here. You’re right where you belong. You’re part of America, too. You’re not Muslim or American. You’re Muslim and American. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is in contrast to the Old World philosophy that distinguishes a person of Algerian descent from a Frenchman, a Japanese citizen of Korean descent from a Japanese or someone of the Bahai faith from an Iranian. No one in the United States has an original claim on being an American. We are all at some point in our family tree from somewhere else. Thus, it makes no sense at all for us to exclude groups from our society on the basis of their beliefs or origins. The president’s speech is a terrific rendition of this argument that many see as fundamentally American.</p>
<p>The question is, was anyone listening?</p>
<h2>The power to educate</h2>
<p>As a lame duck president, Obama is limited in the things he can do. </p>
<p>In the modern era, a leaving president can have little to do with selecting his own successor – besides tending to his own popularity. Also gone for a lame duck is the hope of getting his program passed through Congress, especially when that Congress is controlled by the other party, as is the case for Obama. But one thing the president can do is use his office as a bully pulpit.</p>
<p>Traditionally, we think of presidential speechifying as a part of what <a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Presidential-Power-and-the-Modern-Presidents/Richard-E-Neustadt/9780029227961">Richard Neustadt</a> termed the “power to persuade.” But it strikes me that President Obama’s speech at the mosque is of a different nature. </p>
<p>The setting the president chose for the speech and the tone he adopted cast Obama less in the role of persuader and more in the role of educator.</p>
<p>President Obama is uniquely suited to this role. He is by nature reflective and cerebral. As I argue in my book, <em><a href="http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/doifinder/view/10.1057/9781137408242.0001">Pitiful Giants: Presidents in their Final Terms</a>,</em> lame duck presidents often are more themselves in their final years in office then they are earlier in their careers. No longer do they need to worry about building support or running for office.</p>
<p>Some presidents, like Teddy Roosevelt, are triumphant in their final months. Others, like <a href="http://millercenter.org/president/biography/wilson-life-after-the-presidency">Woodrow Wilson</a>, seek redemption. Still others like <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/calvincoolidge">Calvin Coolidge</a> are simply exhausted from running a marathon sprint. </p>
<p>President Obama is instinctively an intellectual. Now, given the chance to rise above petty politics and the issues of the day, he is returning to his roots as a professor.</p>
<p>In the last few months, we’ve seen a different President Obama. He appears more relaxed and at the same time more assertive as he enters his final year. It is interesting to me as someone who studies leaving presidents that President Obama is experimenting with what he can do at this stage in his final term. </p>
<p>He’s attempted to make his mark by issuing a broad order on <a href="https://theconversation.com/did-president-obama-act-legally-in-issuing-his-executive-order-on-immigration-34734">immigration</a>, delivering a slightly innovative <a href="https://theconversation.com/obamas-final-state-of-the-union-scholars-react-53048">final State of Union</a> – and now by bringing his presidency into a Muslim place of worship. Whether he succeeds in recreating the lame duck presidency remains to be seen. But the fact that he is experimenting seems to be in his nature.</p>
<p>After Eisenhower was elected but before he took office, Dean Acheson, President Truman’s secretary of state, <a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/978-0-393-30412-1/">described his last meeting</a> with the NATO Council in December 1952 this way:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our (foreign) colleagues treated us with the gentle and affectionate solicitude that one might show to the dying, but asked neither help nor advice nor commitment for a future we would not share with them. For this they were waiting for our successors.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By all indications, President Obama doesn’t plan to go quietly into his post-presidency. We will watch with interest as President Obama struggles against his looming irrelevance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54228/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel P. Franklin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The president gave an encouraging and inclusive speech to American Muslims, but he may have picked up the cause too late.Daniel P. Franklin, Associate Professor, Political Science and Author of Pitiful Giants: Presidents in their Final Terms, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.