How does one become just plain American? No one is invalidating your comment, just challenging your perspective. You say your comment was a humble offering that doesn't need to be analyzed. My only question is what do you really mean?

“What it means to be French is concieved quite differently than how Americans define what it means to be an American.”

“Quite differently” is not the same as “one of degree andd nuance.”

I have a question for you. Everyone here knows Im an oilman. Managed to get 3 years of college under my belt with a degree in geology before heading out to the oil fields. Im just sort of a rough guy who has worked really hard all his life.

I'm curious as to where you went to college and what did you study?

Okay. let me explain this slowly.
IMHO, the difference between France and the US is one of degree andd nuance.
Pointing to both differences and similarities is not a contradction; it's a description.

In America, the children of many groups, though not all, can become just plain Americans, like the Irish or other Europeans.
Among the many Frenchmen I know (and, of course, I can't claim to know all of them), someone's foreign ancestry can never be totally erased, unless it's a Belgian one, perhaps. My friend is accepted and loved but she remains somewhat of an exotic bird, not truly French, in spite of 35 years of citizenship. The people I know live in Paris, the Dordogne Valley (near Bergerac), and in La Rochelle, near the Atlantic coast. I hope my credentials are satisfactory,. If not, tant pis.

As to: “who said they had to know anything about Muslims?” No one said it.
I was, again, pointing to a difference in degree or kind. Most Americans I know, have bothered to find out something about Muslims in America, their countries of origin, the differences among them, etc. To the French I know, their Muslim population is just a mass of interchangeable people, about whose lives or cultures they have no interest. Muslims are a mysterious 'they' to them. This surprised me, as the French have had an extensive history in Algeria and in literature, have had something of a romance with Arab cultures. .

Contrary to what you claim, the French care very much about Obama and all American elections. .They were as well infomed about the '06 elections, as any American. And, they have their favorites. How the French government sees it, is another matter, about which I have no insider knowledge.

I quite agree that my comment was 'narrow', as it was a casual observation, not intended as an in-depth treatise. It's possible you are better informed and more knowledgable, in which case it's odd that you deigned to analyze my humble offering.

Chacun a son gout, I guess.

Interpolating? Extremes? I was giving one example as you have given one example. You said it was about lineage with the French as if there was no other nationality that thought about heritage and true citizenship. How is my saying that this bias applies to just about every other nation a disservice?

“Yes. One of my life-long friends married a Frenhman. We are in constant touch and visit back and forth wth all the relalives involved. The political class is one of their top gripes, and the maybe-Frrench status of my friend is a constant in her life.”

What region of France does she live in and who said they had to know anything about Muslims?

“we also cling to measuring true Americansim by how far someone's ancestors antedate the passengers on the Mayflower.”

You realize here that you also said that true Americanism is often perceived based on lineage? You are not being hypocritical so much as you are contradicting yourself.

“Frenchmen shouldn't feel too bad, though. Look at the xenophobia that is part of our immigration problem. Neither should they imagine that Obama's candidacy isn't hampered by his race.”

Contextually, this doesn't make sense. I don't think they care that much about Obama's candidacy as much as the media bias wants us to believe. Maybe your friend does because she was born in the U.S. Xenophobia exists in every country up to a point, so it is not an exclusively American trait. “Narrow” appears to be a key word here.

“Have you actually spoken to any French that specifically feel a certain way,”

Yes. One of my life-long friends married a Frenhman. We are in constant touch and visit back and forth wth all the relalives involved. The political class is one of their top gripes, and the maybe-Frrench status of my friend is a constant in her life.

At the same time, they have no contact with, no understading of, and no interest in the French Muslim population. They can not really be French', you see, ever..
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“So far, you have decided that non-supporters of Obama are primarily focused on race.”

No. I said xenophopbia was one PART of our immigration problem, Xenophobia refers to strangers and not their race.
This has zero to do with Obama.

You do me and yourself a great disservice by interpolating to bizarre extremes from an opinion about one narrow topic, as it was preseted in the post.

To be French is more a question of lineage, and one can live in France for a lifetime as a citizen but still not be truly French in the eyes of ethnic Frenchmen..

It's the same way in America. You have Americans that are born here and see themselves as native Americans. You have the Native American Indians (some) that feel they are the true Americans, and you have naturalized citizens that are still not accepted or thought of by native Americans as actual citizens of this country. The same bias exists in just about every civilization. Have you actually spoken to any French that specifically feel a certain way, other than perhaps how Brigitte Bardot feels about the Muslims? Perhaps in a specific region? Any opinion polls or tallies? The French shouldn't feel bad and don't. Any more than I feel bad about questioning where Barack Obama was actually born and if he is legally running for president. They are simply questions about validity and the need for answers.

As far as immigration goes, it's not only xenophobia, runasim, it's about foreign criminals infiltrating our border. So far, you have decided that non-supporters of Obama are primarily focused on race. That's not going to work when you're talking about a candidate that is black and white.

The intelligentsia are another and quite separate class of thinkers, and the two seldom mix in the formative years, or even later.

What it means to be French is concieved quite differently than how Americans define what it means to be an American. To be French is more a question of lineage, and one can live in France for a lifetime as a citizen but still not be truly French in the eyes of ethnic Frenchmen..

Frenchmen shouldn't feel too bad, though. Look at the xenophobia that is part of our immigration problem. Neither should they imagine that Obama's candidacy isn't hampered by his race.
We are also hypocrites, because while embracing new citizens in the abstract, we also cling to measuring true Americansim by how far someone's ancestors antedate the passengers on the Mayflower.