Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7263783.stm

What the hell is this about?.Who cares what the man wears on visits abroad?If he was pictured in a black rubber balaclava and crotchless pantees I'd say it had some significance but this is total rubbish.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

The idea may be that some people may falsely assume the photo means that Obama is some sort of scary secret Muslim...& therefore vote against him.

[Even though he is not a Muslim, not that it should matter, and he was simply wearing traditional Kenyan garb while in - shock horror - Kenya, & his father is originally from Kenya]


Of course, he's not the first leader / potential leader to wear local clothes...

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashoa.htm

(pics of both Clintons plus Dubya at the bottom)

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

Quite, Matt. If this comes from the Clinton camp, as alleged, it beggars belief.

I don't particularly think Obama will make a great President (we need another FDR, not another Kennedy), but he's way better than McCain and better than Clinton, if this is how she lets her campaign run.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

That's probably a very safe bet in some parts of the US.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

Yes, but the US people appear to be dragging themselves out of their blind idiocy of the last few years, Bush is down at 19% in the polls, so if McCain thinks running as New Super Bush (the same, but more concentrated) is going to work, he's nuts.

In other good news, one of the worst people in the Bush administration, William Haynes, has left. He wrote this:

Basically saying that the President is above the law. Hard to pretend that's in any way compatible with American values, really. Not sure about FDR, they may need a Lincoln and Washington rolled into one, really.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

As to the wearing of local costume..how many times have we seen royalty forced to wear the local stupid hat or costume to appease whomever they have been sent to suck up to?Do we think they are going native or changing culture or changing religion?No of course not.

Mind IF they dress up as a Nazi as a fancy dress costume for a bit of a joke at a party they have to apologise profusely.But then I think that was more an anti monarchy finger wagging situation than anything else.

So again it just proves how much a certain section of the US electorate is being duped into thinking everything Muslim is bad.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

The Nazi thing is a bit different, since Prince Harry's ancestors didn't have Nazi sympathies. Well not many of them*. Obama's father was actually Kenyan, so it's no sillier than John McCain dressing up in a kilt on a visit to Edinburgh. I wonder if he is actually Scottish, if it comes to that?

Ronald Reagan famously tried a pint of Guinness on a trip to Ireland, and looked like he liked it about as much as raw sewage, I remember.

* Edward VIII, Harry's great-great-uncle, was a bit iffy on the subject.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

Clinton obviously leaked this, It may not seem a big deal leaders usually wear local dress but they have already tried to tie in Obama with Muslims and this image is obviously trying to re-inforce that.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

The other Obama smear this week was that he wasn't wearing a Stars and Stripes lapel badge, and this means he's UnAmerican. Pathetic smear, really. His response was pretty good, I thought, and shows why the election needs someone with impeccable anti-Iraq War credentials:

Wallop. So good to see he didn't rush round and cover himself in the flag, but actually went for the real issue.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

What's the point? To seemingly most Americans your first suggestion would be more attractive.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

Obama's response is perfect, Has anyone been watching Bill O'Rielly (of Fox News) daily attacks (presented as 'no-spin of course) on Obama?

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

I keep having intruding thoughts of Obama being assassinated! I guess i'm just paranoid. After a quick google, it seems that i'm not alone. :erm:

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/t...ves/129063.asp

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

Actually, I think the old 'fool all of the people some of the time' thing is beginning to come home to roost now. There's something about seeing your house in danger of repossession, your job in jeopardy, tax cuts for the rich being enshrined and billions being poured into the deserts of Iraq that spells trouble for the Right-wing Noise Machine, even without its repeated foot-in-mouth episodes. For example, Obama quoted an Army captain's experiences of being sent to war by Bush and co. thus:

This was jumped on with both feet by the RNM (along the lines of 'it can't be true, since a platoon isn't led by a captain, but a lieutenant') until someone got in touch with the soldier in question and found it was perfectly true, and he'd been a lieutenant *at the time*, but promotion is quick these days. The only bit where Obama had slightly exaggerated was implying that they were actively capturing Taliban weapons rather than just picking them up after fights, because apart from anything else the bearded boys use the same weapons as the Afghan Army. Hardly a serious misrepresentation.

O'Reilly in particular is pretty much shot credibility wise. Fox apparently had someone on the other day who actually *attacked the station for being biased [gasp]*. Does Gavin still watch them, I wonder?

George Bush is 19% in the polls.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

Have you been watching too many old eps of "24"? ;)



Biased?! But they're so "Fair & Balanced"TM!

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

Not nessecarily true, it could have been leaked from the Obama camp discreetly knowing full well where the directions of any finger pointing would be. For the Clinton camp to release this would be like taking a double barrel shotgun and pointing it at your own chin, then again maybe it was neither camp, they want Obama as the front runner, we all know Hillary has no chance any way so reinforcing the Obama lead would be the best route to follow. I just dred the day america gets a russian president, then the fan will hit the sh....

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

I for one welcome our new KGB overlords...

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

Don't you mean FSB?

The Komityet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti has been superseded, dont'cha know.

Different name, same tactics.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

It is the FSB. It has always been the FSB. I've never said anything else, comrade.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

I think you may have just confirmed a number of posters' suspicions. ;)

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

Don't forget the SVR, too...

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

What's the Severn Valley Railway got to do with it?

---------- Post added at 00:33 ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 23:01 ----------

Back to Barack for a bit, this story shows again how the loony right is shooting itself in the foot with every attempted smear:

http://www.juancole.com/2008/02/bara...r-bradley.html

Rather an obvious thing to point out, that Middle Eastern/Semitic/Arabic names are all over the place. Therefore if you want to smear Obama and you try and suggest that it's UnAmerican to have one, you're smearing quite a lot of key historic figures, like Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

LOL.


The SVR is Russia's external security service. Used to be the KGB's First Chief Directorate. Responsible for foreign espionage & intelligence.

The FSB is the internal service. Used to be the KGB's Second Chief Directorate. Responsible for counter-intelligence & counter-espionage.



I read about that in the Grauniad today.


Interesting link.


I'm still wondering which side started this thing with the robe photo...

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

I suspect the Clintons, for the obvious reason that they're in trouble and it was an easy way to distract the Obama campaign, which is doing very well. The Obama-Secret-Muslim stuff is entirely made up by right-wing propagandists, of course (with the unspoken 'Muslim = UnAmerican' racist overtone). You can tell, because it's got no basis in reality.

Elsewhere in the US the Democrats won two 'by-elections', or the local equivalent, where there had been a safe Republican majority before.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

It's a sign of how weird things are over there that McCain offering (doubtless genuinely) to respect his opponents is seen by some as a sign of UnAmerican Activities amounting practically to treachery. They *really* hate Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately for McCain, they're probably the only people who'd vote for him right now. He certainly needs them if he's going to win - here's the latest indication that the usual tactics don't work on Obama:

Talks a bit funny, but he's firmly kicked that argument where it hurts.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

lol obama gets my vote! :)

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

That would be the bit where he's saying he'd gladly have had Saddam remain in power murdering, torturing, raping civilians? I'd mention mass graves, but as the substantial numbers of victims found isn't apparently as substantial as first reported, yet still portrays Saddam in a bad light, some people try to suggest they're insignificant and shouldn't be discussed. I wonder why...
You probably missed the bit where he made the distinction over the balls up that happened and how it would have been done properly if he had been President.
Oh no, wait, he didn't make that distinction, nope, instead he re-affirmed the "screw them, they're only Shia and Kurds" view that some "liberals" portray.
Next someone will be suggesting that the lack of support was down to nations caring more about their soldiers than playing politics due to the financial gains that would be missed out on should Saddam have been removed from power.
Then there'll be the suggestion that those who took action only did so for financial gain, while ignoring the paradox of the two views.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

Lincoln was, of course, a Republican. His vice president was a Democrat.

How times have changed.

Re: Robed Obama picture ignites row
 

Not so very much - Bush's remaining friends are currently bigging him up as being like Lincoln, Churchill and Truman rolled into one.