Would you like some smear on your politics?

American national political campaigns prey on the ignorance of the masses to achieve their objectives. In such a geographically diverse, and spread-out nation, cultural experiences are more variant than those of our European counterparts.

Thus when a photo of a trip to Kenya that Obama kept from the public surfaces, one has to wonder how the generally ignorant American would react to such a photo.

Hillary’s campaign had this to say about the photo:

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.

Eli Sanders of Seattle’s The Stranger weekly had some extremely insightful commentary on this “blunder.”

First he says about Clinton’s response:

“Her release wasn’t helped by the fact that Obama was in Kenya, not Somalia, at the time the turban photo was taken.”

Then Sanders reprints an excerpt from “Turbans: Don’t Link Them to Terrorism” an op-ed he wrote for the Seattle Times immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers:

In SeaTac last week, a man was charged with attacking a turban-wearing Sikh cab driver, calling him a “butcher terrorist.” In Seattle, a man was arrested after he allegedly tried to choke a Sikh, telling him, “You have no right to attack our country.” In Arizona, a man shot a Sikh gas-station owner to death, later explaining to authorities: “I’m a patriot.”

Hundreds of other assaults on Sikhs have been reported across the country, a trend that strikes many as bizarrely misguided.

Yes, Sikhs wear turbans. But they have no connection to the Islamic extremists now wanted by the U.S….

Those seem to be distinctions many are unaware of. John Cooksey, a Republican congressman from Louisiana, recently offered this suggestion for weeding out terrorists: “If I see someone come in and he’s got a diaper on his head and a fanbelt wrapped around the diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over and checked.”

Read the rest of Eli Sanders’ post:

• Obama’s Turban | Slog | The Stranger | Seattle’s Only Newspaper