Wikileaks: Obama Administration Screened for Muslim Americans for Key Cabinet Roles

Rumors of Barack Obama being a Manchurian candidate have been widely un-exaggerated. Why on earth would his cabinet purposely screen for candidate based upon religion is beyond me. I thought Obama didn’t see things in the prism of religion. We aren’t a fucking theocracy and Muslims make up less than 1% of the total population in the country. Ergo, why the hell was his cabinet stacked with muslims?

This is Podesta leak was addressed to Michael Froman, advisor to Obama, key player of the 12-member advisory board on Obama’s transition team, circa 2008, from Preeta Bansal,  former member of  the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and Obama’s No. 2 immigration adviser.

Source: Russia
From: Bansal, Preeta D (NYC) Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 11:01

To: Froman, Michael B Cc: ‘Onek, Matthew’ Subject: Asian American Candidates, Muslim American Candidates

Here are the compiled lists of Asian-American and Muslim American candidates for top Administration jobs, sub-cabinet jobs, and outside boards/agencies/policy committees.

A couple things to note about the list of Muslim American candidates:

1) In the candidates for top jobs, I excluded those with some Arab American background but who are not Muslim (e.g., George Mitchell). Many Lebanese Americans, for example, are Christian. In the last list (of outside boards/commissions), most who are listed appear to be Muslim American, except that a handful (where noted) may be Arab American but of uncertain religion (esp. Christian).

2) There is only one candidate I thought was a viable one for a Secretary-level job among the Muslim Americans. That said, on both lists, there are some very senior people listed in the last category (for outside boards/commissions) who conceivably could be considered for top jobs. The very senior people I put on the last list tended not to be terribly involved in politics or policy, or in the case of some Asian Americans, had already served in the Clinton and even Carter Administrations and so I thought we should seek new talent. But there’s no magic to some of the placements. I think the lists are fairly exhaustive, but some of the people may be moved to other categories.

3) High-profile Muslim Americans tend to be the subject of a fair amount of blogger criticism, and so the individuals on this list would need to be ESPECIALLY carefully vetted. I suspect some of the people I list would not survive such a vet — but I do personally know, at least in part, virtually all of the candidates in the 1st two categories (but I know very few of those listed for outside boards/commissions).

4) I listed the elected Muslim American democratic officials at the end of the second category, but for various reasons, I didn’t think any of them would necessarily be suitable for an Administration appointment. Nevertheless, I wanted to flag them for you in case you wanted to evaluate them further. DOJ list will be coming in the next two days. Judges and USAttorneys will still take about 10 days. Let me know if the latter are needed sooner.

Preeta D. Bansal Partner Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP Four Times Square | New York | 10036-6522 T: 212.735.2198 | F: 917.777.2198 [email protected]

 

The fuck?

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