Another Obama Smear

It happens in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. It's smearing by association. Defamation by implication. Barack Obama, the nasty narrative goes, isn't one of us. He's one of them.

He's had Muslim associations. His name sounds Arab. He attended school in Indonesia. Joel Stein of the Los Angeles Times describes Obama's following as "the Cult of Obama," and "Obamaphilia" as "creepy," as if Obama were some sort of bizarre preacher out of Wise Blood rather than the politician who's earned more votes than any other candidate, Republican or Democratic, in the primaries so far. Ann Coulter, who wears her racist toxins on her sleeves, now refers to him as "B. Hussein Obama," as if the Arab middle name were a self-evident indictment, a scurrilous revelation, or worse--a connection with that other Hussein (Saddam).

MSNBC did Coulter one better. Chris Matthews was introducing a segment about Obama on the Feb. 18 edition of "Hardball"--while a promotional graphic of Osama bin Laden was shown above his shoulder. Matthews later apologized without offering any explanations. It's not the first time the networks have let slip the Obama-Osama smear. In January 2007, CNN's Wolf Blitzer was promoting a piece on the whereabouts of bin Laden after so many years, but the graphic superimposed on bin Laden's portrait asked, instead, "Where's Obama?"

It's all a taste of smears to come, and reminders that the most potent racial slur these days in allegedly progressive, ostensibly diverse America, is summed up in that four-letter word: Arab.

See Also:

• Barack Obama's "Arab" Baggage
• The Barack Obama-Madrassa Smear
• Glossary: Madrassa
• Barack Obama's Middle East Policy
• John McCain's Middle East Policy
• Bill O'Reilly's "Lynching Party" Comment About Michelle Obama