November 7, 2012

MPAC congratulates President Barack Obama for winning a second term as President of the United States of America. At the Election Night Results Party held in the Washington, DC area last night, more than 150 American Muslims gathered to await the results and broke into applause and cheering when the results were announced.

Yesterday, our nation and the world watched as the election results came in precinct by precinct and state by state, and in the end, Obama won both the electoral and popular vote of Americans. Obama received 303 electoral votes and 50 percent of the popular votes.

“As history has shown and we’ve all experienced first-hand, campaign season can prove to be very divisive,” said Salam Al-Marayati, MPAC President. ”We applaud and congratulate the American people for moving past the negativity and maintaining the bigger picture of an ever-progressive and inclusive America.”

Al-Marayati was joined by commentators Ahmed Younis and Wajahat Ali for a candid and lively discussion last night at the gathering in Washington, DC.  After all this time and campaign work, they agreed, the real work begins today for America.

As Obama mentioned in his acceptance speech last night, “the role of citizens in our democracy does not end with your vote.” Obama has four more years as the leader of our nation and as such, we look forward to engaging him on the difficult issues, both in frustrating times and prosperous moments.

We expect much from this administration, as we would of any administration, and we are confident that our continued engagement will prove fruitful for the benefit of all Americans.

The American Muslim community has put forth many questions that need to be answered. Will Obama make real immigration reform a priority? Will Obama keep his ’08 campaign promise of closing Guantanamo Bay? Will he continue drone strikes? Will he take action to end the atrocities in Syria?

MPAC looks forward to working with both the administration and lawmakers from both parties to ensure that our nation moves forward. Last night, Americans sent a message to their political leaders that they want them to work together and stop the political gridlock.