The Associated Press

The photo was taken on a 2006 Congressional trip to Africa.

Featured Topic | Posted 2 years 3 weeks ago

Obama campaign slams Clinton over turban photo

Can we agree that the 2008 presidential campaign hit a new low point today? The Drudge Report posted a photo of Barack Obama in Somali garb, and said it had been circulated by the Hillary Clinton campaign. Obama's campaign attacked Clinton over the issue -- and the Clinton campaign responded by saying the photo shouldn't be seen as "divisive."

Whose campaign will be most hurt by the brouhaha? Is there more mud waiting to fly?

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Ben likes: Biography politics

Daniel Larison/Eunomia

Jonathan Martin of Politico discusses the difficulty of deploying smear tactics against Obama, but I think he underestimates the degree to which anonymous chain e-mails and third-party (i.e., independent organizations, not political parties) advertising will be able to operate unchecked under the national media’s radar. To a large degree, the rumors swirling on the Internet are already doing this, and the MSM’s ham-fisted responses to the existence of the chain e-mails have not quashed the rumors, but almost lended them a degree of credibility, as if there is a real "issue" that Obama has to confront.

Politically speaking, however, it seems as if the "issue" has become real despite the completely false nature of the story.

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Joel likes: Obama gets dressed

Slate

Let’s take a moment to review: Obama’s campaign thinks Clinton is trying to be divisive by encouraging the Obama-is-a-Muslim myth. Clinton’s campaign thinks the Obama campaign is being divisive because it thinks Clinton’s campaign is being divisive. We love these spats as much as the next blogger, but Clinton’s stance is flimsy at best. While Obama cries foul, he also gets to show everybody that he is experienced enough to have gone on a diplomatic mission to a foreign country. Plus, he gets a high-profile platform to say he isn’t a Muslim. Clinton, meanwhile, is forced to play traditional-clothing catch-up while covering-up her staffers’ foolishness.

In December, the campaign asked two of its employees to resign after they proliferated rumors that Obama was a Muslim. If the campaign is consistent, we should see Clinton undress another staffer’s career in a few days.

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