Campaign smears against Obama

I haven't really gotten into the issue of campaign smears since I know it is pretty much a standard operating procedure to discredit and destroy your opponent in an election--smears are probably as old as politics and elections itself. But today, I've noticed two interesting smears targeting Barack Obama by what may be two completely opposite opponents.

The first smear I've seen is coming from this MSNBC News story, titled Obama may face grilling on patriotism:

WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama's refusal to wear an American flag lapel pin along with a photo of him not putting his hand over his heart during the National Anthem led conservatives on Internet and in the media to question his patriotism.

Now Obama's wife, Michelle, has drawn their ire, too, for saying recently that she's really proud of her country for the first time in her adult life.

Conservative consultants say that combined, the cases could be an issue for Obama in the general election if he wins the nomination, especially as he runs against Vietnam war hero Sen. John McCain.

"The reason it hasn't been an issue so far is that we're still in the microcosm of the Democratic primary," said Republican consultant Roger Stone. "Many Americans will find the three things offensive. Barack Obama is out of the McGovern wing of the party, and he is part of the blame America first crowd."

You have got to love the Republicans and their ridiculous flag lapels. You are only a true American patriot if you wear a flag lapel on the collar of your suit jacket--and at the same time get away with illegal domestic spying on Americans, sending this country into a disastrous war in Iraq, politicizing the Justice Department by firing U.S. attorneys who will not investigate and prosecute cases for a political agenda, blowing the cover of a CIA operative in revenge for criticism against arguments for going to war in Iraq, handing out hundreds of billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to your friendly business and defense executives, Abu Ghraib. The scandals just go on and on and on. Of course, this is nothing new for this new Republican Party--you swear your loyalty to the Party first, then to your business and ubber-rich elites, and then to the Religious Right, and then to your conservative constituents, and finally--maybe--to the rest of the American people and the country. You show your "patriotism" by wearing some little piece of costume jewelry, and criticize your opponent when he isn't wearing his little flag pin.

This is what Barack Obama had to say regarding the criticism against him for not wearing a little piece of costume jewelry. From Fox News:

Asked about it Wednesday in an interview with KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Illinois senator said he stopped wearing the pin shortly after the attacks and instead hoped to show his patriotism by explaining his ideas to citizens.

"The truth is that right after 9/11 I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security.

"I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest," he said in the interview. "Instead, I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testament to my patriotism."

On Thursday, his campaign issued a statement: "We all revere the flag, but Senator Obama believes that being a patriot is about more than a symbol. It's about fighting for our veterans when they get home and speaking honestly with the American people about this disastrous war."

Yes, I know I specifically pulled this quote from Fox News--the Mouthpiece of the Republican Party. I hope that people who are watching Fox News could understand that patriotism to one's country is reflected in what they do for the service of their country, and its people, rather than in wearing some flag lapel. The Fox News story came out on October 4, 2007. It is now late February 2008, and MSNBC is still regurgitating this ridiculous story of questioning Obama's patriotism because he won't wear a flap pin. Of course, it won't make much of a difference since the extreme right wing of the GOP will continuously bring up this issue again and again.

The second story that is generating a lot of buzz is a Drudge Report posting, where a photo of Obama wearing African clothes is being circulated by unnamed Clinton campaign staffers. According to the Drudge Report:

With a week to go until the Texas and Ohio primaries, stressed Clinton staffers circulated a photo over the weekend of a "dressed" Barack Obama.

The photo, taken in 2006, shows the Democrat frontrunner fitted as a Somali Elder, during his visit to Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya.

The senator was on a five-country tour of Africa.

"Wouldn't we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were HRC?" questioned one campaign staffer, in an email obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT.

In December, the campaign asked one of its volunteer county coordinators in Iowa to step down after the person forwarded an e-mail falsely stating that Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe quickly accused the Clinton campaign Monday of 'shameful offensive fear-mongering' for circulating the snap.

Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams responds: "If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed."

Barack Obama wearing African clothing during a 2006 trip to Kenya. From the Drudge Report.

So Barack Obama decided to go "native" in wearing some African garb during a trip there. Big frickin' deal. That is what you're suppose to do when you go to other countries--sample the local food, the culture, the dress, the music and such. I could care less if either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, or even John McCain were found wearing African clothing during trips to the region--wearing native clothing during these trips to any foreign country does not affect your abilities or experience as a potential presidential candidate. This is another non-issue that is being generated as a smear against Obama.

But there is more to this story here. The first big question is who sent this picture of Obama to Drudge, and where did they get the picture? Drudge reports that this picture was sent via email by an unknown Clinton campaign staffer. Is that true? Considering that this is the Drudge Report, I can't really say. This photo could have come from one of two sources. The first certainly is an anonymous Clinton campaign staffer, hoping to generate a smear against the Barack Obama campaign. And in that case, it may have worked. This posting of this image has created both a stir within the Internet, and generated even more squabbling between the Obama and Clinton camps. According to MSNBC News:

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe immediately accused Clinton's campaign of "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election."Obama's foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, said the circulation of the photograph was divisive and suggests "that the customs and cultures of other parts of the world are worthy of ridicule or condemnation."

The Clinton campaign did not comment on the distribution of the photo, but campaign manager Maggie Williams said the Obama campaign's reaction was inflaming passions and distracting voters.

"Enough," Williams said in a statement. "If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.

"This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry."

What is particularly interesting about the Clinton campaign's response is that the Clinton campaign does not confirm, nor deny, that they were responsible for sending the photo to Drudge. Instead, we have Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams attacking the Obama campaign in creating "an obvious and transparent attempt" to distract voters away from the "serious issues." This brings up an interesting question--was this a smear attack by the Clinton campaign? The fact that the Clinton campaign will not directly respond to the question of whether the campaign was responsible, or not, for submitting this photo to Drudge certainly does questions and suspicions that they were responsible for this action. The Clinton campaign would have had something to gain in conducting this smear--this is a way to negatively attack your opponent, who has become the Democratic front-runner with an 11-state win, while claiming denial at the same time.

The second party that could have sent this Obama photo would have been an unnamed someone in a conservative group, or the Republican Party. But even here, the question would be why either the conservatives, or the Republican Party, would want to get involved in initiating this smear during the Democratic primary? Do the Republicans feel that they can win in a John McCain/Hillary Clinton match better than a McCain/Obama match, and this is a smear campaign in order to help Hillary get nominated? According to the latest polling data from Real Clear Politics, McCain has a six point advantage over Clinton if a general election was held today, over that of a McCain two-point advantage over Obama. But if there is anything that this 2008 election has taught us, is that the polls cannot be trusted. There are so many dynamic variables taking place, with so many people switching their decisions over who to support in the Democratic primary, that you can not trust the polls to create an accurate representation of who Americans support for a Democratic candidate. And the polls certainly are not representative of the general election because the Democratic nomination process is still not finished--the Democratic candidates are only starting to turn their attention against McCain, and that is even fleeting at best. We still have a long spell of fighting between the Obama and Clinton campaigns to get through, and that may only stop until after the convention ends, and the nominee is chosen. Another problem I have with the photo being sent by conservatives, or the Republican Party, is why would the Republicans want to insert themselves into this Democratic campaign in the first place? The last thing the Republicans would want is to be caught meddling with the Democratic nomination--I can only imagine the outrage that would be directed against the Republicans by both the Clinton and Obama campaigns, and their supporters. Of course, considering that the Republican Party, and their nominee John McCain, are chained to the sinking Bush presidency, maybe conservatives feel that it is better to go with candidate Clinton, who they especially know and hate, over that of an unknown candidate Obama.