Barack Obama: I'm no Muslim

[Steve Gardner]

Efforts to prejudice Obama's Presidential bid started waaaay back. Here's an early attempt by Faux News. It's a screen capture from a Fox broadcast. I don't know the date, but it was pre-December 2006.



There are two things about this image: one obvious, the other more subtle, and perhaps even a coincidence.

The first is the rather ludicrous suggestion that Obama's credentials are questionable on the basis that he smokes. The second is the ticker at the bottom. Is it really a coincidence that the words 'DRUG TRAFFICKER' are scrolling across the screen as Obama's image is being displayed?

And now Clinton, having already tangled with Obama over the race issue, is attacking Obama's religious beliefs.

Would America reject Obama if he came out and said he was Muslim? You bet they would.

Source: The Times

Tim Reid in Las Vegas

Barack Obama was directly confronted on prime time television last night over allegations swirling around the internet that he is a secret Muslim who worships the Koran, during a Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas.

Mr Obama, who was raised as a Christian by his white mother despite his Kenyan father being Muslim, has been dogged by smears and innuendo for months that he is in fact an Islamist trying to enter the Oval office by stealth.

"Let's make clear what the facts are: I am a Christian. I have been sworn in with a Bible. I pledge allegiance [to the American flag] and lead the pledge of allegiance sometimes in the United States Senate when I'm presiding."

Mr Obama is a member of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ and is an actively practising Christian. But opponents, particularly on the Republican side, delight in reminding people that his middle name is Hussein, taken from his father, a Harvard educated economist who left the family when Mr Obama was two.

After a deeply acrimonious dispute between Hillary Clinton and Mr Obama over the issue of race, which has dominated the campaign for over a week, the two blamed aides and campaign surrogates for the controversy and jointly pledged, on Martin Luther King's birthday, to put the matter behind them.

Yet both sought to gain the advantage on other issues. Mr Obama accused Mrs Clinton of taking a page from President Bush's playbook with earlier statements that the next commander-in-chief could expect to be tested quickly by terrorists - and that the next president would not have time to learn on the job.

Mr Obama said: "When Senator Clinton uses the spectre of a terrorist attack... I think that is part and parcel with what we've seen, the use of the fear of terrorism in scoring political points, and I think that's a mistake."

Asked during the NBC debate whether she had meant to say terrorists would test Mr Obama more than her, Mrs Clinton replied, "No, of course not," before adding, "it matters who's president."

The debate comes four days before Nevada's Democratic caucuses. In contrast to previous contests in predominately white Iowa and New Hampshire, Hispanic voters and union muscle in Las Vegas will have a big say in who prevails.

Mr Obama has been endorsed by the state's biggest union, but Mrs Clinton is being backed by several smaller trade organisations. This led her husband Bill to tell an audience in Nevada yesterday that Mr Obama was the "establishment" candidate in the Silver State and his wife the insurgent - a new interpretation on the Democratic race.

John Edwards, who is pressing on despite his losses in Iowa and New Hampshire, is hoping for victory in Nevada to keep his campaign alive. He was boosted by a poll this week which showed the three candidates in a close race, with Mr Obama just ahead. He was the third candidate on stage.

On the corrosive dispute over the subject of race in recent days, Mr Obama said "not only in hindsight, but going forward," he regretted that his staff had prodded reporters to pursue the issue. He was confronted with a four-page memo put together by an aide listing statements made by the Clinton camp that could be construed as racist.

Mr Obama, seeking to become America's first black president, said: "Our supporters, our staff, get overzealous. They start saying things that I would not say." He said memos such as that were not the way he wanted to run his campaign.

Mrs Clinton said: "We both have exuberant and sometimes uncontrollable supporters. We need to get this campaign where it should be."

The Clinton campaign in particular believed the dispute about race was damaging the former First Lady's White House bid. It erupted last week when, trying to make a point about presidential leadership, she said it took a president - Lyndon Johnson - to turn Dr King's dream about racial equality into law. Black leaders condemned her for appearing to diminish the Civil Rights leader's legacy. Mrs Clinton accused the Obama campaign of "deliberately distorting" her remarks.

But the race row has caused much damage within the Democratic party and the message appeared not to have fully spread among surrogates. Charles Rangel, a veteran black congressman and Clinton supporter, accused Mr Obama of playing the race card in just one instance on a day when aides in both camps continued the insults and accusations.

Last night Mrs Clinton said comments at the weekend about Mr Obama by Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television and one of her prominent African American supporters, were inappropriate. But she demurred when asked if she would bar him from playing a role in her campaign. Mr Johnson appeared to make a clear reference to Mr Obama's youthful, and acknowledged, drug use, something which led to the forced resignation of another Clinton campaign advisor last year.

After Mr Obama's victory in Iowa and Mrs Clinton's stunning comeback in New Hampshire, the Democratic race is close and hard fought between two well-funded candidates. Both want to win Nevada. It would not only be a boost, but will influence voters' perceptions in California, the biggest prize on February 5, "Super Tuesday", where Hispanic voters will play a significant role.