I had the privilege recently of moderating a dialog among leaders of Muslim-American communities and Congressional staff members. Not a dialog "between" them, mind you; this bunch was too diverse to define as a simple dyad. Most of us hangers-round-the-edges of Capitol Hill know that staff members are, just by themselves, a varied bunch: diverse politically, of course, but also along many other dimensions.

But despite myself, I was impressed by the diversity of our Muslim-American participants as well. It should have been no surprise: the data about Muslim diversity in the U.S. is well documented by the Pew Center on Religion and Public Life, among other sources.

And yet: when one imam spoke for the first time, I was struck by his accent -- straight out of Brooklyn. An African-American convert to Islam, he noted that entering into interfaith dialog was easy enough for him: he just had to go home for a meal with his mother and uncles. And adding to the litany of complaints already voiced about excessive, intrusive, and sometimes nonsensical questioning at US airports, he said: "I have a double whammy; I'm either driving while black, or flying while Muslim. I can't catch a break."

A basic sense of justice for our fellow citizens, and a decent respect for the opinion of, well, humankind, demands that the next administration must make it clear that our fight is with terrorists, not with Muslims. Our friends at the Brookings Institution take this a step further: our fight is with terrorists, not "jihadists." Their reasoning: jihad in its usual sense is a noble struggle; why would we want to honor our adversaries in this way?

Candidate Obama struggles to beat back rumors that he is Muslim because, ummmmm, he's not; and because, well, it hurts him politically to be thought Muslim. Meanwhile, he is wildly popular in many countries of the Middle East where he is (also) believed to be Muslim. Let us also long for the day when an American Presidential candidate who drives while black AND flies while Muslim will be as well received in this country as Senator Obama is today in the streets of Cairo.