With a national case of post-9/11 PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder, the American voter has it real tough. There has to be recovery from that dreadful day and the almost daily assault on our senses with the beheadings in Iraq, the antics of our own in Abu-Ghraib and the pounding of Iraq’s cities by our forces on a regular basis. The nation is like the jack-in-the-box who after a bit carefully peeks out only to get a greater pounding yet. Sensory overload, I like to complain, for there are times my neurons feel punch-drunk.

And now we must face Election Day and decide between two men who are entirely underwhelming. At the time of George Bush’s first election campaign, the nation was trying to get over the Clinton sexual escapades and perhaps Bush seemed unusually principled and moral and conservative in contrast.

Cs. Hoping for a symbiosis of sorts in that we would help elect him and our successful bloc vote would put us on America’s political map, Muslim Americans brought the bloc vote to fruition, and elected a man who does not care to acknowledge that the Muslim vote in Florida helped catapult him to the White House.

After 9/11, Muslims have acquired radioactive status and any association with us at the personal and especially political level can never be reflex; it has to be deliberated on and executed with much caution. Perhaps that was why there was not even the token Muslim representation in the speeches at the Democratic National Convention. And should careful orchestration at the Republican National Convention focus on even one Muslim-American speaking at the glittering stage, the Republicans would have done another number on the Muslims and they would be forced to rethink the current maxim of ABB or “Anybody But Bush”.

Native Americans make up 2% of the electorate and there is a great push by both the Democratic and Republican parties to court their vote. They largely live in reservations whereas Muslim Americans, also 2% of the electorate, are not only wealthy but also educated. Perhaps we ought to credit the Al-Qaeda network for making us the hot potatoes that we have become and though Muslim Americans may not be on America’s political map, many sure are on the FBI’s Palm Pilots. What with the Patriot Act being the corollary of George Orwell’s 1984, one does not have to suspect that Big Brother is watching, one ought to know that it is.

What impacts Muslim Americans most is the status of civil rights in America, the Patriot Act and all its ramifications, the war in Iraq, and American foreign policy. Bush’s stance in regard to civil rights is not only clear, we suffer its practice all the time. Kerry voted for the Patriot Act, does not want it repealed, and is lukewarm about its redress. He also stands by his vote of confidence for war on Iraq and now that no WMDs were found, he still feels that he would have voted for it but that the commander-in-chief should have had a definite plan for peace when he went into the war. This is convoluted logic and smacks of last minute political machination.

One set of Kerry’s grandparents was Jewish and his brother has converted to Judaism. Additionally, the credentials of Kerry’s coterie of advisers as well as his clear statement that he will stand by Israel more stolidly than Bush leave no room for hope or conjecture in regard to his policy on the Middle East. This is one of the few things that Kerry is definite about.

Just like Clinton’s charisma eroded when his escapades came to the fore, America appears embarrassed at Bush’s misspeaks and obvious ignorance, even though he initially seemed to handle the post 9/11 situation well. That Yale graduates such people should pull it right out of the IV League. House of Bush, House of Saud by Craig Unger, Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke and Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore cast so much doubt about Bush’s integrity, the all transparent interest in Iraqi oil, the cronyism in the reconstruction in Iraq and the cryptic ties to the Bin Ladens that the question of giving him a second chance cannot arise in any sane mind.

And yet the power of the propaganda machine is amazing. That Saddam had deep ties to Osama and that Saddam posed an imminent threat to the US has been repeated so often prior to the war on Iraq that a fair number of educated Americans believe that to be the truth. There is also sentiment that a wartime commander-in-chief should not be changed midstream.

Kerry declined attendance at the APPNA, Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America, convention that was held in Washington DC in June, even though his campaign was reassured that at least $50,000 would be raised in one evening, and there would be exposure to a powerful group, especially one that wields great influence amongst Muslim Americans. Seemed an encore of the opportunity that Gore lost.

Additionally Kerry appears masterful at the political art of talking much and saying little. His ambiguity and constant riding on the political fence is not filling the void left by Bush’s follies. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama stole the Democratic National Convention. And the star of the show just hemmed and hawed in his typical anemia, committing himself to nothing but jaded election promises. And the feeling that the known devil is better than the unknown, seemed to sit with some.

The Muslim American voting bloc is in its adolescence and Bush is culpable of foible upon foible. Despite the opportunity provided by the above, Kerry on his own merit could not carry the Muslim vote; if he does it would be by default alone and the proverbial ABB disillusionment.

(Mahjabeen Islam is a physician practicing in Toledo Ohio. Her email address is mahjabeenislam@hotmail.com)