In a smear campaign reminiscent of
"John McCain fathered a black baby" in South Carolina in 2000, a
series of mass emails have been popping up in American voters' inboxes detailing the religious upbringing of Barack Obama. In the
first email, it is revealed that Barack Hussein Obama is actually a radical Muslim who may or may not be a sleeper agent attempting to infiltrate our country's highest political office. Another email describes Obama's Chicago church, where the candidate first found God and counts the church's pastor as a close mentor, and which describes itself as
Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian, as having a
"racist, non-negotiable commitment to Africa" that excludes non-blacks. Though Obama still counts the church's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, as a close friend and mentor, Obama
decided to not ask Wright to speak when he announced his presidential candidacy. In addition, on November 2 of last year,
Louis Farrakhan received the "Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Trumpeteer" award, which has further outraged those dubious of Obama and his connection to Trinity.
Disclosure/editorial - I am an Obama supporter, but find the prevalence of these emails vastly interesting and discomforting. Clearly they wouldn't have spread so quickly and so far if not for people's inherent suspicion of him as a candidate, as an African-American, and as a person with a Muslim name. I feel that at some point he's going to have to address these issues, particularly in regard to Trinity Church, as already
conservative radio and
blogs are decrying the MSM's hypocrisy and liberal bias in discussing Romney's Mormonism but not Obama's "radical" black-centered church. Also, my point in posting these links is obviously not to spread the lies contained therein (note the snopes links) but rather to discuss what it is quickly becoming one of Obama's greatest challenges to winning his party's nomination and, eventually, a general election.
posted by 45moore45 at 7:25 AM on January 12, 2008