President Obama continues tradition (since 2001) of hosting Iftars

This is the third Iftar that President Obama has hosted. In the past a few folks who don't know their history have become upset by this, but it is now a tradition for every president to hold these dinners celebratings religious holy days.

In researching that above fact, I came across the Obama Foodarama blog. This blog is dedicated to:

The public portion of the digital archive of record about Obama Administration food and nutrition initiatives. Reporting and photographs from the White House by founding editor Eddie Gehman Kohan. Policy analysis; events and speeches; recipes, menus, historic food ephemera.

As for the Iftar, First Lady Michelle Obama is not attending - she is on a private family vacation (presumably with her kids and mother, the blog doesn't say) in Oregon with her brother Craig Robinson.

To mark Ramadan, the holiest month on the Islamic calendar, President Obama will host an Iftar dinner this evening at 8:35 PM in the State Dining Room, timed to begin after Washington, DC's official sunset at 8:09 PM. Invited guests include elected officials, religious and grassroots leaders in the Muslim American community, and leaders of diverse faiths, according to the White House. Tonight's Iftar is the third the President has hosted.

Since 1996, the United States Department of State has held an annual Iftar dinner in Washington for community leaders from U.S. society, faith groups, and foreign policy officials. U.S. embassies around the world host their own Iftar dinners. An Iftar dinner hosted at the White House by the President has only been happening since 2001. (Critics dispute the claim that Thomas Jefferson hosted an Iftar dinner. http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/08/obama-spreads-false-claim-that-thomas-jefferson-hosted-first-ramadan-iftar-dinner-at-white-house.html
According to the New York Times, President Obama, on April 9, 2009, was the first President to host a Seder Dinner at the White House. (Seder is a Passover ritual for Jews.) (Michelle Obama has a Jewish cousin, Rabbi Capers Funnye of Chicago.)


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