The Daily Background

Since everybody else is talking about it, I thought I might as well mention it as well. You know the piece on the front page of the Post today about Obama not being a Muslim but that there are dirty rumors that say he is and try to take advantage of vitriolic anti-Muslim sentiment among low-information voters? Yeah well, I really don’t get what the fuss is.

Everybody who reads this blog on a regular basis has probably noticed I’m often sympathetic to Obama (certainly more so than I am towards Clinton), so I don’t think anybody would accuse me of being, I dunno, anti-Obama or anything, but I just really don’t get the fuss over this article or why everybody seems to criticize the Post for running it. I just don’t see where the Post is out of place in reporting that these rumors exist, and that they’re having an impact on some level.

I think it is news that these rumors still exist and that people actually believe them (The Politico had a slightly better piece on this matter earlier this year). It may be the work of a rival campaign, trying to tarnish Obama’s name… Think of how explosive it’d be if these emails were traced back to another campaign or some conservative group. That’s pretty much the definition of dirty trick. If anything, I would think hearing about how anonymous people are levying this anti-Muslim disinformation against Obama as a sort of dirty trick would make people more sympathetic towards the candidate.

If you want check out the a low-information voter point of view, Check out Yahoo! Answers and search for Obama questions. A surprising percentage of them are about whether he’s really Muslim or not, or whether he’s a “Muslim plant.” It’s a little depressing, really. A few examples:

• I have seen an email saying Barack Obama is a Wahabi Muslim, is it true?
• Don’t people realize that Obama is muslim?
• Barack Obama….. How do you feel about a Muslim running the USA?
• Obama: muslim conspiracy to overthrow the government?
• Osama Hussain Obama- Muslim terrorist?

Kind of sad how much confusion there is about this (and I suppose sadder that it would even make a difference what religion he is). I guess that explains why the Obama campaign has set up a big fact check page to debunk these rumors. Still, the fact that these urban legends exist and that people are swayed by them is news, and I think it should be reported. After all, since these rumors are spreading (especially in early primary states- South Carolina in particular apparently), it’s better for voters to learn about them by reading news articles that talk about how they’re not true, than to hear the rumor straight out without having heard anything about it beforehand, right?

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog