I want to preface what you’re about to read by confessing that I’m skeptical of most politicians, cynical about their promises and doubtful about their ability to get things done, beyond raising money and staying in office.
I don’t care who wins either party’s presidential primary, but with the March 4 Texas primaries upon us, accusations and promises are flying hot and heavy. Most of it is just part of the garbage that accumulates along the campaign trail like the mean sexist stuff that Republicans and some media are flinging at the Hillary Clinton campaign but ugly rumors about U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., go beyond even the loose rules of American political theater.
And while the smear campaign against him has been addressed by Obama himself, by political writers, such as Scott Stroud, the Express-News politics/government editor, and by others I hear every day from people I know and don’t know who wonder about something they heard about the Democratic front-runner for the presidential nomination. Such as:
“Why was he sworn in on the Koran?”
“I hear he won’t say the Pledge of Allegiance? How can he be commander in chief? If you can answer in the paper I’d appreciate it.”
And from an e-mail: “Who is Barack Obama? This (attached message) is very scary! Snopes.com indicates it is true.”
I took the e-mailer’s advice and consulted Snopes, which I’ve found to be a fair broker of truth. Sure enough, Obama was No. 1 in its “25 Hottest Urban Legends.” But the Web site didn’t confirm the e-mail insinuating Obama is a radical Muslim, as its sender predicted. Instead, it trashed the rumor as “distorted and exaggerated.” Also, it reported that:
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a Muslim, was sworn in to Congress on the Koran (Muslim holy book) not Obama.
Obama has been a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ, a Christian house of worship in Chicago, for 20 years.
While Obama’s background is “unusual and interesting,” there is not a scintilla of evidence that he’s a “dangerous, camouflaged radical Muslim.”
Snopes.com did find evidence that Obama doesn’t always place his right hand over his heart when “The Star-Spangled Banner” is played, as the U.S. flag code recommends.
A photo circulating on the Internet shows him (and opponents Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson) at a campaign rally in Iowa last year, standing in front of a large U.S. flag. Obama’s hands are folded in front of him while Clinton and Richardson each have their right hands over their hearts.
Snopes has other photos of Obama properly saluting Old Glory, but if you feel inclined to vote against him for his faux pas on the stump in Iowa, so be it. Gerald Ford probably lost some votes here when he tried to bite into that tamale in 1976.
The rumor-mongering illustrates both the good and bad sides of the Internet. Serious media have a responsibility to correct such baseless claims, when we are able, because unbalanced people might be moved by such rubbish to do more than just vote against Obama.
Earl McRae, a columnist for Canada’s Ottawa Star, observed last week that he’s “shocked at the level of hatred being directed at Obama,” and pointed out that extremists already have assassinated four U.S. presidents, attempted to kill six others and assassinated black leaders Malcom X and Martin Luther King.
My point is when you challenge someone’s love of country to foment hatred, you better have your facts in line. When I find most “facts” untrue, I tend to doubt the rest of the story.
