Obama Web Site Fights 'Smears' on Faith, Patriotism
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama launched a new Web site this week in a bid to quash a number of rumors that question his faith and the extent of his patriotism, as well as his wife's views on race.
The Obama campaign has fought for more than a year against several rumors circulating on the Internet and in conservative news outlets, one of which states that the Illinois senator is not a Christian but a Muslim.
Launched Thursday, the Web site, www.fightthesmears.com, stresses, "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised as a Muslim, and is a committed Christian."
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A photograph shows Obama being sworn into the U.S. Senate with his hand on a Bible and not on a Koran, as some rumors have stated. The site also uses a CNN profile of the Indonesian school Obama attended as a child to counter a rumor that it teaches a radical interpretation of Islam to its students.
Passages from Obama's books are also elaborated on to dispel rumors that he harbors racial resentment and a video shows him leading the Pledge of Allegiance to put to bed rumors that he refuses to do so.
The Web site also fights claims that there's a tape showing Obama's wife, Michelle, using the racially divisive term "whitey" from the church pulpit. According to fightthesmears.com, that claim, made by Rush Limbaugh and other conservative political commentators, is a lie. "The truth: No such tape exists," the site states.
Obama supporters are encouraged to "spread the truth" and e-mail the responses to others.
"The Obama campaign isn't going to let dishonest smears spread across the Internet unanswered," spokesman Tommy Vietor said. "It's not enough to just know the truth, we have to be proactive and fight back."
