Fox discovers Bush's Muslim outreach--and attacks Obama for not crediting Bush

Written by Justin Berrier

Published

For almost two years, Fox News has attacked President Obama repeatedly by suggesting that his attempts to reach out to the Muslim world indicate that he's soft on national security. We at Media Matters have diligently pointed out that many of Obama's stances on Muslim outreach in fact originated with or were similar to his predecessor's, demonstrating that their attacks are motivated more by partisan hackery then by a genuine concern over our national security. So you can imagine our shock when Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy pulled a total 180 this morning, and started attacking Obama for not crediting Bush while engaging in Muslim outreach efforts.

In a speech in Indonesia, Obama said:

Relations between the United States and the Muslim community have frayed over as many years. As President, I have made it a priority to repair these relations. I've made it clear that America is not and never will be at war with Islam. Instead, all of us must work together to defeat al Qaeda and its affiliates.

Here's Doocy's reaction to Obama's comments in Indonesia:

DOOCY: So this particular speech last night in Indonesia was billed as a follow-up to the Cairo speech about a year and a half ago, where he did the outreach. But he was saying stuff that -- he made it sound like he was inventing it. He didn't invent it. Let's flashback to 2001. Here is George W. Bush saying essentially the same stuff.

First of all, despite Doocy's breathless indignation that Obama would dare to take credit for something Bush did, Obama never actually said that. All he said was that he's made it a priority, which he has, and that relations between America and the Muslim world have frayed, which they have. And moreover, Fox has relentlessly attacked Obama's and his administration's Muslim outreach efforts. For instance, Fox criticized Obama's “new national security strategy” because it will “no longer make references to radical Islamic extremism or jihad” which Bush officials also discouraged; criticized the Obama DOJ for hiring lawyers with experience with terror suspects, like the Bush DOJ did; and attacking the State Department for sending on Muslim outreach missions Imam Rauf's overseas, the same programs in which he participated under Bush. In each of these attacks, Fox conveniently forgot all about Bush and his administration's Muslim outreach policies.

Second of all, Fox & Friends has no business criticizing Muslim outreach at all. Just a few weeks ago, Kilmeade said that “not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslim.” Twice. And this was just the latest in their campaign to bash Islam and Muslims at every opportunity. Perhaps our president wouldn't have to continuously reassure the Muslim world that we're not at war with Islam, if people on Fox would stop acting like anti-Muslim bigots.

But most importantly, Fox & Friends' hypocritical attack on Obama is stunning, even for them. Now that they've spent so long conveniently forgetting that Obama's Muslim outreach efforts are completely uncontroversial, it's too late for them to feign indignation that Obama isn't giving Bush enough credit. It will be interesting to see if they continue to remember this after Bush's rehabilitation tour is over.