Obama Photo Swaddled in Mystery of Its Intent

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Obama Photo Swaddled in Mystery of Its Intent
By Philip Kennicott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 26, 2008; Page C01

A silly photo of Barack Obama, dressed in some sort of traditional African garb, mysteriously made its way to the Drudge Report Web site yesterday. The photograph, which showed Obama wearing a turban and swaddled in white fabric, was taken in 2006, when the Illinois senator was on a tour of Africa. But what did it mean? Was it a deliberately leaked smear image? Or an innocent snapshot of a guy humoring the locals by dressing up? The photograph, which might just as easily be seen as feminizing Obama as suggesting hidden Islamic sympathies, didn't yield many clues.

Even if it was meant as a smear image, the Obama in Africa picture was only slightly more sophisticated in its insinuations than an old Polaroid with horns and fangs drawn on it. By the end of the day, the only clear message from the strange episode is that whoever was spreading the image was not particularly sophisticated about the way images work in our new media world.

The fact that Obama appears to be wearing khaki pants and a polo shirt underneath the costume limits its power to suggest secret or devious meanings. The African fabric was an overlay on his very Western, very conventional outfit. Even the fabric looked light and diaphanous (as one might expect in a hot climate), suggesting it is a superficial, temporary addition to Obama's usual image.

An image such as this one also needs to circulate first among people inclined to believe the worst about its target. For a smear photograph to function properly, it must begin its journey into the body politic with what one might call a "Have you seen this?" phase. As it circulates under the radar, it gains a kind of credibility momentum, as people inclined to believe begin to think it is actual, documentary evidence of something that is being suppressed. The idea that it is being suppressed -- that it hasn't broken out to a larger audience -- actually helps it build credibility momentum. If the image debuts to the larger world without that momentum, its smear message will be drowned out by a chorus of other story lines: Where did it come from? Who distributed it? Why did they do it? And that seemed to be case yesterday....

***

"Obama in White" never really had a chance to work its power. If it was circulated by the Clinton camp, it may be yet one more example of a photograph biting its master's hand. Successful political photographs emerge when an audience finds an image it is already inclined to believe. This photograph seemed to be an image in search of an audience, and it got shot down before it could find one. One might see in this a parable of two political campaigns: One has an audience almost romantically inclined to accept its message, the other has a lot of messages that are looking for an audience.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/25/AR2008022502784.html

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Get a life, Sludge

[DemzRock]

2. Um, I thought it had been curculated "underground"...

And I saw first hand this morning someone upset at seeing the huge front page picture on the NY Daily News and NY Post. "Is he a Muslim?," she asked. "That's just what we need."

Maybe it "never really had a chance to work its power" is a bit pre-mature.

Lets hope not.

I just want to beat McCain.

[joneschick]

3. how dim can people be?

not every male head dress is Muslim. This is the same lazy thinking that caused stupid stuff after 9/11. Ok, one more time with meaning, please!! I present the Turban Primer http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/lifestyles/links/turbans_27.html

[Algorem]

4. American Smear-Artist Ed Lasky attacks Senator Barack Obama

http://www.pjvoice.com/v32/32401lasky.aspx

http://www.pjvoice.com/

-- Ira Forman

Buried between traditional spam messages about get-rich-quick schemes and limited time offers, many members of the Jewish community have found despicable smear emails polluting their inboxes in recent weeks. Such emails aimed at Barack Obama (and targeting Jewish voters) have been so outrageous that leaders from nine non-partisan Jewish organizations recently took the nearly unprecedented step of signing onto a strongly worded letter repudiating these smear tactics.

But the right-wing attack machine is not just using scurrilous emails to mug their opponents. Mainline conservative have been using more "legitimate" web sites to traffic in innuendo about the Democratic candidates– with many of their fallacious attacks landing in the discredited emails.

Ed Lasky of the conservative American Thinker has been a primary culprit in this endeavor. He has been writing about Obama for months and his "analysis" is to the Illinois Senator as was Walt and Mearsheimers’ to the pro-Israel community: a political agenda wrapped in faulty logic and incorrect assertions.

Lasky’s recent screed, "Barack Obama and Israel" offers a preview of what the GOP smear campaign would look like should Obama win the Democratic nomination. Given that similar smear campaigns have been launched against Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator John Edwards, it is clear these tactics will be used by conservative operatives in the General Election against any Democratic nominee...