Posted by Frank James at 4:10 pm CST, updated at 7:05 pm
Sen. Barack Obama is being reminded of something he no doubt already knew: the higher you ascend in politics or government, the lower your opponents will stoop to undermine you.
I allude, of course, to claims that appeared in the Washington Times magazine Insight and elsewhere, that as a child in Indonesia Obama attended a Islamic madrassah or religious school and that he was a Muslim, at least for a little while and that he has been hiding this part of his "past." The implication is that Obama may be a closet Islamic fanatic and liar to boot.
Obama’s staffers have denied the madrassah story. Meanwhile, this whale of a claim has been effectively harpooned by several seekers of truth, including my fellow Tribune blogger Eric Zorn in “Change of Subject.”
What's more, Wolf Blitzer of CNN's "Situation Room" has a report in which CNN actually traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia to investigate the school Obama attended. Its reporter concluded it's a regular public school, not a madrassah at all, thus debunking the rumor.
But that won’t stop it from continuing the rounds on the Internet and elsewhere, especially in the right-wing echo chambers.
Of course, there isn’t anything about these sorts of charges that is particular to the Internet, modernity or America.
Aspasia, the famous lady friend of ancient Athens’ leader Pericles, was accused by critics of running a brothel, a scurrilous charge acccording to many modern scholars.
Catherine the Great of Russia was falsely accused of behavior it doesn’t make too much googling to learn about.
In our own country, President Warren G. Harding was accused of having black forebears by his political opponents at a time when that kind of accusation was about as inflammatory as being accused of attending a madrassah.
It’s a credit to how far the nation has come that a politician nowadays can obviously have black ancestry, like Obama, and be a serious candidate.
More recently, there was the whispering campaign in 2000 before the South Carolina primary that Sen. John McCain had an illegitimate black daughter. In reality, he and his wife had an adopted, brown-skinned Bangladeshi daughter.
Such rumor-mongering goes with high-stakes politics. They’ll be a lot more of it before the last vote is cast on Election Day 2008, which will keep the seekers of truth very busy.
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Comments
By "higher" you mean that 21% name recognition he has nationwide? Yeah, he's just soaring.
Posted by: Jeff | January 22, 2007 4:20 PM
ARE YOU READING THIS PAULO???
"What's more, Wolf Blitzer of CNN's "Situation Room" has been teasing for over an hour a report on the school in which CNN actually traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia to investigate the school and found it's a regular school, not a madrassah at all, thus debunking the rumor."
What else you got Senior Talking Points? Big ears? That his middle name is Hussein? We will surely see if America is as xenophobic, racist, and puerile as you are.
Posted by: Bryan | January 22, 2007 4:20 PM
How does a magazine published by the Unification Church of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon have the nerve to criticize someone else's religion, especially based on false information?
Posted by: Tony | January 22, 2007 4:32 PM
Again Jeff you show nothing. Every Republican in the race will not carry the Country not even Red States they are tired of the Right Wing of the Republican Party
Posted by: Dale Peters | January 22, 2007 4:35 PM
Yeah, I knew when Obama started to run for President that the drooling "Paulo's" of the world would crawl out of their holes and try to "swiftboat" him.
The big problem for the GOP KKKarl Roves this time is that President Doogie Howser has been trashing the Country and the GOP for 6+ years now.
Whomever the Dems run for President is going to win in 08.
The American public is sick and tired of the corrupt,morally bankrupt Republican Party.
Paulo is a Colts fan!
Posted by: John E. | January 22, 2007 4:37 PM
If Obama truly wants to pull American politics out of the muck, perhaps he and Colin Powell could join forces on a bipartisan ticket. Imagine (1) the combined intellectual horsepower, (2) the relatively centrist (and genuine) positions that could be staked out by the two (hear that Hillary?, McCain?), (3) the principled, intellectual honesty of both (hear that again Hillary and McCain?), and (4) the historic aspect of a completely African-American ticket that is easily supported by centrists of both parties. While the current 2-Party primary system doesn't lend itself to such a ticket, it sure would be interesting . . . .
Posted by: Jay | January 22, 2007 5:06 PM
Dale, what do you base your facts on? The Battleground poll has McCain and Giuliani beating both Obama and Hillary. McCain would destroy Obama according to that poll. McCain's 62% favorables dwarf Hillary and Obama's numbers. McCain would beat Obama 51-39% today according to Battleground. 21% of the electorate has never even heard of Obama! You can't mount a serious presidential campaign when nearly a quarter of the country doesn't know who you are.
McCain beats Hillary 53-43 and Giuliani beats Obama 50-41. You can't pretend that no republican has a chance when you've been educated by numbers like that. Looks to me like it's the democrats who have the serious problems.
Link to the Battleground poll: http://www.tarrance.com/battleground.html
Posted by: Jeff | January 22, 2007 5:39 PM
Go ahead Karl(Koch)Rove, unleash your vaunted Republican disinformation machine. No one believes you anymore. Besides, if we've learned anything the past six years, it's that any candidate, Green, Independent, Democratic, is preferable to the losers the cons have been running out lately. So "swift-boat" away, big-boy!
Posted by: dt | January 22, 2007 5:51 PM
Jay,
The Colin Powell ship sailed after his whopper-filled presentation in front of the U.N. He was a good soldier, but can no longer be considered presidential material. (Not to mention that he appears to have not wanted to be president at any point along the way, either. His best chance was 1996 or 2000.)
Posted by: Bryan | January 22, 2007 5:53 PM
CNN took did a story on this and debunks the smear that the righties have been trying so hard to spread.
They went to his school and show it is not a madrassa but, a public school.
And they interview people there.
Kudos to CNN
Posted by: vwcat | January 22, 2007 6:05 PM
Ahh, let the fur fly: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/289f5b7e-aa45-11db-83b0-0000779e2340.html
Posted by: Jeff | January 22, 2007 6:48 PM
Why does Andy Griffith hate America?
Why does he want the terrorists to win?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CvoC551i2E
Posted by: bb | January 22, 2007 6:50 PM
CNN went to Jakarta and found that the madrassa that Obama attended was a regular public school.
No surprise there.
"Madrassa" is the Arabic word for "school."
Posted by: Dave Brann | January 22, 2007 8:09 PM
Jeff look at who owns that poll before you post something know who owns it.
Posted by: Dale Peters | January 22, 2007 8:09 PM
Did you notice the righthand column of The Washington Times story? ROFL!
Voted Hottest Conservative News Site
By Rolling Stone Magazine
"These are the nasty scoops
that others just aren't getting."
- S.W, Oct. 19, 2006, pg 104
And thank you Wolf Blitzer of CNN - that makes up for the accidental caption mistake earlier. :-)
Posted by: Tom J | January 22, 2007 8:10 PM
bb:
I knew some of Griffith's old sheriff school buddies and they say he never even earned his badge. He lobbied for it to pad his resume. You can't trust him!
Posted by: Phil | January 22, 2007 8:12 PM
Jeff,
I just took the time to review The Battleground poll and I take SERIOUS issue with your multiple statements about Sen. Barack Obama. Just to be clear, I do not know who I will vote for, so please take my comments in the spirit in which they are meant - to look at the FACTS.
1. You first stated that Sen. Obama only has 21% NAME RECOGNITION (meaning: 21% of the population is familiar enough with Obama to comment on him). 1/22/07 4:20:26pm Comment above.
2. You then stated that "21% of the electorate has never even heard of Obama! You can't mount a serious presidential campaign when nearly a quarter of the country doesn't know who you are." 1/22/07 5:39:56pm Comment above.
Now if we leave off that 21% is far closer to 1/5 of the electorate than 1/4 of the electorate, BOTH of your comments are FALSE.
According to The Battleground 2008, Democratic Analysis, page 7 (January 2007), http://www.tarrance.com/Democratic-analysis.pdf, "Both John Edwards (49 percent favorable) and Barack Obama (46 percent favorable) are WELL KNOWN AND LIKED. Though their favorable ratings are not quite as high as [Hillary] Clinton's neither is as polarizing a figure (29 percent and 21 percent unfavorable respectively). Among all Democratic voters 85 percent like Clinton, 71 percent like Edwards, and 65 percent like Obama." Emphasis added.
I read the entire report and could not find anywhere that it was stated that Obama was known by only 21% or unknown by 21%. And yes, I also read the Republican Analysis. It does say that Obama has 21% unfavorable rating, but that does not mean people do not know who he is.
Finally, I would call your claim above that "Giuliani beats Obama 50-41" simply false. Again, I refer you to The Battleground 2008, Democratic Analysis, page 7 (January 2007), http://www.tarrance.com/Democratic-analysis.pdf, where it clearly states an 8-point advantage for Guiliani over Obama. To be fair to you, the report does say that Obama trails McCain 51-39 (12 point spread).
This far out from the election, I'd say these numbers aren't so bad for Obama OR Clinton.
Posted by: jennifer | January 22, 2007 8:39 PM
Jeff,
The pro war Republicans running for President don't stand a chance in Paulo of winning in 08.
Do you really beleive that President Doogie's war will be over by then?
Find all the polls you want Jeff,the Repubs aren't going to be winning in 08.
Posted by: John E. | January 22, 2007 9:22 PM
A friend sent me a Faux News YouTube of some morning show featuring two republohaired chuckleheads and a hamster faced bimbo in black boots. They were having a field day with this nonsense, accusing the Clinton camp of releasing the "story." It looked like a parody it was so over the top stupid! They were attempting a double swiftboat complete with a moron's call-in poll. If it wasn't so obviously malicious in intent, I would have been laughing my behind off at it.
But you know, everywhere I turn, there is some rube willing to sop this stuff up like it was gospel and Bush is Christ with a Haldol Halo. What the hell is wrong with you people? Will you be satisfied when you're finally all out of work and money in a nation that can't defend itself any more because your numbskull "president" finally broke the damn army? Do you really want your kids dying in some pointless vanity war just to preserve the legacy of a fool? What is it exactly wingnuts? Be honest about your vile bigotry for once.
I don't think any one of you has a clue anymore. You never really did.
Posted by: mg | January 22, 2007 11:08 PM
If you are going to post please learn how to spell! Also, make a cogent argument and convey it with a sense of intelligence. The Republicans do stand a chance, especially if they put someone such as Senator McCain against Clinton or Obama. Partisanship aside, the country may not be ready for a female president. That is not to say that I am against having a woman in high office, but just a reality based on some national polls. Obama's skeletons are slowly coming out of the closet. Granted, some are credible and others not, each accusation still bears negatively on at least some of the swing votes. His voting record in Congress shows that he tends to be very liberal (read: leftist) and brings into question the credibility that he really stands for a change.
To play the numbers game this early is quite naive. Polls are often slanted in the beginning often showing one candidate stronger than he really is in order to gain more financial support. People are more inclined to spend money if they feel they have a shot at winning.
It is very possible that the 2008 election will further show the country's disgust with Republicans, but the Democrats must show they are for real and accomplish a lot during the next year a half. They also must put up a candidate who can win. Remember, Al Gore couldn't even win his home state of Tennessee and lost Clinton's home state of Arkansas. John Kerry failed to defeat a very weak candidate in Bush. I don't know if Clinton or Obama offer that strong candidate, but then again I won't go making cavalier pronouncements this early; to do so is uniformed and futile.
Posted by: Kevin Abbott | January 22, 2007 11:09 PM
Maybe Obama should write another book "My Sweet Deals with Allegedly Crooked Mayors That I Endorsed" or "My Sweet Deals with Allegedly Crooked Tony Rezko". Then you can stop reporting on the rumors and go for the facts...
Drew
Posted by: drew | January 23, 2007 12:57 AM
Jeff,there once was this Repub named Bill, who claimed polls didn't matter. You also seem very pro McCain, just like he was.I guess it's just a coincidence that your writing style and thoughts are so very similar to our old friend Bill.
Jeff,who could be Bill,McCain has sunk himself backing the troop surge,I'm sure you noticed the casualties this past weekend.This war's a loser.
Posted by: Raving Loon | January 23, 2007 8:42 AM
Kevin Abbott,
I don't meant to be petty, but if you are going to live in glass houses and demand others spell correctly and make cogent arguments, I would ask you to run spell check and grammar check yourself.
I believe you meant "uniNformed" rather than "uniformed" in your post above.
Posted by: jennifer | January 23, 2007 9:19 AM
Raver,
You may have blown Bill's cover, man!
Posted by: C.Morris | January 23, 2007 10:05 AM
Drew, if you want to make an accusation directly that Obama did something wrong in either endorsing Daley or in his dealings with Rezko, please do so and back it up with facts. So far, you're still dealing in rumors and innuendos. We can agree or disagree on the facts.
Posted by: John | January 23, 2007 10:48 AM
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