The Photo
My reaction to the spread of this photograph has been delayed and will be brief. Delayed, because I’ve been busy. Brief, as frankly, there’s not much to say.
Clinton’s campaign team have been disgusting here. How can this be anything but a blatant attempt to attract the bigot vote? They insinuated last year that Obama is a muslim - which, of course, he isn’t. Circulating a picture of him in a turban to the Drudge Report looks dangerously like the direct heir to that policy.
Stereotypically, muslims wear turbans - or at least, they do in the minds of the sort of people who are going to be put off by this sort of photo. The fact is that this turban has nothing to do with Islam. It’s part of the traditional Somali dress that Obama is wearing. But, in the mind of a latent bigot, he’s wearing a turban, ergo he’s a muslim, ergo he must be a terrist.
Of course, what Clinton’s team are missing here is that such a person was never going to vote for Obama anyway - or even her. The sort of knuckle-dragger that believes Obama must be a muslim because he’s worn a turban and is called Hussein probably secretly feels a woman’s place is chained to an oven…
Of course, Clinton’s campaign team have denied any attempts to tar Obama as a Muslim. Clinton’s campaign managers said: “If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed.”
So now Obama’s the racist? Wow, I need to keep up…
The fact is that this defence, aside from being completely disingenuous, isn’t a defence. Why would they circulate this photo if they weren’t trying to stir latent - and overt - Islamophobia against him? Aside from that, it’s a fairly ordinary photograph. There’s very little special about it. Obama was on a trip to Kenya, he wore traditional Somali clothing. Nothing unusual for a politician there - as Clinton’s team pointed out in her defence, she’s done that sort of thing plenty of times, and published the pictures.
And there’s the rub. She published the pictures. Obama didn’t publish these - implying that he wanted to keep them private. If they’re being circulated by Clinton’s campaign team - and somehow, I believe the Drudge more than them on who supplied it - without reason, we must presume they’re doing so for the sake of it. That is: they are publishing private photographs for the sake of it.
That’s permissible now? Great. How’s about we get out the baby pics Hills? The press would go wild…
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