Most Americans believe E Pluribus Unum (out of many one) is the bedrock of American exceptionalism. Most Americans believe the Great Melting Pot (assimilation) is a key driver of American dynamism. Most immigrants came to America to live in an advanced and prosperous nation. So, why is Ilhan Omar (D-MN) so unhappy with America? One would think a Somali refugee, who rose to become a member of Congress, would be grateful. Not even close! Fox News Jesse Watters nailed her anger in a singular challenge: “Omar, please say one good thing about America.”
This is not the angry screed of a white Christian, because Nikki Haley, the former UN ambassador, is one of my heroes. She and Ilhan Omar are both woman of color and daughters of non-Christian immigrants. However, Haley willingly assimilated into the societal mainstream and is happy about it. Omar appears quite the opposite, begging the question: what is she doing in Congress? Call me old-fashioned, but those who govern should love the governed.
Ms. Omar repeatedly expresses antipathy toward her country, blaming native-born Americans for making her anti-American. She told the New York Times she was bullied by native-born teenagers “who stuck gum on her scarf, knocked her down stairs and jumped her when she changed clothes. [From] the first day we arrived in America [I confronted] my otherness.” She angrily summed it up for her father, “this doesn’t look like the America you promised.” Nice daughter, right?
In comparison, Ms. Haley has a rosier view of her “otherness.” Her “immigrant” story always includes the chapter when her naive mother entered 5-year-old Nikki into the Miss Bamberg contest – unaware of the southern town’s tradition of crowning one white winner and one black winner. After hearing the Indian girl sing “This Land Is Your Land,” the judges called her parents backstage, explained their racial dilemma, disqualified Nikki and gave her a beach ball. Haley claims the judges “sent me on my way” without a shred of bitterness – before adding Miss Bamberg became a color-blind contest with one winner the next year.
Back to Ms. Omar, who claims that high school kids made fun of her hajib. Of course, that was unkind and un-necessary, but how is that any different from the “otherness” reality of teenagers with acne, obesity or stutters? A member of Congress should know “mean girls” in a Virginia high school are preferable to machete-carrying Al-Shabaab warriors (that her family fled). And yet, Omar claims all “otherness” is oppressed by America’s cultural majority – in spite of the millions of patriotic Latinos, black Republicans and Christian Democrats.
I suspect Ilhan Omar’s anger created a political outlier and the vanguard of a nascent Islamunist movement. This dates back to her 2012 tweet: “Israel has hypnotized the world. May Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” Those are the words of Islamic jihad, and Omar has not softened her tone as a congresswoman. She accuses Jews of divided loyalties and speaks openly of Israeli war crimes. She supports Hamas and repeatedly calls political opponents Islamophobes and white-supremacists.
Ms. Omar has alleged American Jews have dual loyalties to the USA and Israel, insisting wealthy Jews have bought congressional support with “Benjamins.” I am not surprised that 34 Jewish members of Congress demanded an apology; or that two Democrats, Dan McCready (NC) and Lucy McBath (GA), returned donations to Ms. Omar. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer insisted Omar issue an apology.
After making a watered-down apology, the REAL Ilhan Omar issued a Mein Kampf credo: “I should not [have to] pledge support to a foreign country in order to [serve] on a committee” – a clear accusation her party’s leadership assigned “choice” committee assignments to pro-Israel representatives. Back home, Jewish civic leader Steve Hunegs declared the Minneapolis Jewish “community is exasperated by Rep. Omar’s finding another opportunity to make an anti-Semitic remark.”
It is even unclear where Ms. Omar stands in the war on terror, because of her insensitivity toward 9/11 and false claims about the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). On March 23, she told a CAIR audience that “CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.” This prompted the Wall Street Journal’s Karl Rove to write “Ilhan Omar Blames America First.”
Mind you, this woman has children, and something seems wrong when a mother soft-pedals Al Qaeda suicidal terrorists as “some people” and killing 2,966 non-combatants as “did something.” It is one thing to support civil liberties, and quite another to diminish the deaths of innocent Americans at the hands of Islamic extremists. How is it even possible for a member of Congress to defend Islamic jihadists to the nation that gave her asylum from war-torn Somalia? At the very least, the optics were terrible.
Equaling disturbing is Omar’s self-serving lie that 9/11 was responsible for the founding of CAIR. That is false: CAIR was actually launched as a Hamas-front in 1994, and 9/11 happened in 2001. I think Omar, member of the House Intelligence Committee, knows CAIR was designated in 2008 as a co-conspirator in a terrorist-financing trial by a federal court, after which the FBI cut all ties to CAIR. Republicans should suspect Omar of dual loyalty.
Because Omar’s patriotism is suspect, Vice-President Pence wants Nancy Pelosi to remove her from the House Intelligence Committee. Pence has a legitimate concern, which escalated after Omar accused the US of “bullying” Venezuela’s socialist government. After Pence stated, “she doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Omar responded with an “otherness” tweet: “Woman of color have heard this before. They have to make us feel small.”
And there you have it: Omar is just that right about leaving Maduro alone, and discards Pence’s difference of opinion – – because he is a sexist and white supremacist. How’s that? Omar plays identity politics and then wonders why her opponents dislike her. In the land of E Pluribus Unum, matters before Congress should not be forced through her “otherness” filter. It is divisive – and it is why Ilhan Omar is (sadly) no Nikki Haley. And it’s not even close!