Faith and Cultural-Based Smear Already Under Way

In a post a few weeks ago, I predicted that Barack Obama would face smear attacks based upon his perceived association with Islam (e.g., his middle name is Hussein, etc.). In that article, I predicted that these attacks would come from Republicans desperate to persuade the general electorate. Well, I should not have expected such kindness from the Clinton campaign that it would pass over the opportunity to persuade voters via a smear effort. Today, the faith-bases smear and cultural fear-mongering sunk to a new level.
On the Drudge Report website, a photo of Obama in a Muslim-looking dress appeared thanks to the handiwork of anonymous sources in the Clinton campaign (source).


The Obama campaign lambasted the Clinton campaign over the release of this photo:

"On the very day that Senator Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign has engaged in the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election" (source).

In a sign of the tough politics to come, Clinton campaign chief Maggie Williams shot back:

Enough.

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.

We will not be distracted.

Recap of Clinton's New Level of Attacks:

• Called Obama's attacks "shameful" (see previous post)
• Called Obama's tactics like those of "Karl Rove" (see previous post)
• Compared Mr. Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience to that of the candidate George W. Bush in 2000. (source)
• Clinton campaign is lashing out at the press (source).