Who is Responsible for Stupidity?

Daniel Larison takes progressives to task:

To the extent that his admirers never really appreciated how damaging being identified as a Muslim would be politically, and to the extent that they refused to accept that an overwhelming majority of the public was going to reject a candidate they perceived to be a Muslim, they share in the responsibility for driving up these numbers who are confused about Obama’s religion.

I find the displacement of this strange. It’s progressives who caused this problem, talking up Obama’s story. No where in there is there any responsibility for conservatives who have mendaciously contributed to this “misunderstanding.” The fact of the matter is that the writers who discussed Obama’s upbringing and praised his understanding of different cultures in no way contributed to people thinking he’s Muslim. If people are so foolish that they can’t read past the first few sentences and walk away with the wrong impression, that’s their own fault – not that of progressives.

What are progressives to do? Act like these aspects of Obama’s character aren’t positive? The whole argument presupposes that a closed minded, insular, bigoted worldview is the standard and people talking about Obama’s past didn’t do enough to court closed minded, insular, bigoted people. I have no doubt that a Muslim running for US president would find very little traction. The fact that a significant number of people think Obama is a Muslim underscores a very scary aspect of our culture.

Perhaps Obama should begin each speech with a tag, like in ads: “I am Barack Obama, and I am not a Muslim.” I would like to know what Larison thinks these writers should have done to prepare the Obama-is-a-Muslim section of the public. What more can the man do, other than, I dunno, profess at every opportunity that he’s Christian?