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As rumors of Barak Obama, the Democrats darling jumping in the Presidential race gain more and more credibility, the Republican spin machine wastes no time in making a head start in maligning albeit falsely Obama’s record. In a survey earlier last year, a significant proportion of Americans when polled confused Sen.Obama with the Al-Qaeda terrorist Osama.
Of course, any funny name other than John, Bob or Dick is going to be a problem in American elections as voters struggle to pronounce or recognize it. Fox News might never have it this good. But CNN beat them to it when in a Monday night broadcast of CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer confused America’s “number one enemy” with one of America’s most popular senators [see image]. Predictably, Wolf’s Situation Room was in a bit of a situation now as he apologized profusely in latter broadcasts but I guess the damage was done to CNN’s reputation and possible to Obama’s name association. Hopefully, it is too early in the race to make any lasting impact.
As some bloggers have pointed out, the ‘B’ and the ‘S’ key are far from each other making it unlikely that a sleepy graphic artist might have slipped up and if there is an anti-Obama bias already in the media. Already Obama’s middle name, Hussein is causing much hand-wringing in paranoid analysts who are simply reading too much into a name. But I guess, as the election draws near, we are bound to see such ludicrous extrapolations of things that should hardly matter in a political race that virtually affects the entire world.
Update: If Obama decides to run for President, I would be pleased to have made that prediction way back in 2004. Remember, you read it here first.
Technorati Tags: Obama, Osama, CNN, apology, mess, names, election
by Patrix | on Thursday, January 4th, 2007 at 10:24 am | 
Media, Politicking, United States . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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January 4th, 2007 at 12:41 pm reply
Imagine if someone manages to get the typo printed on the election ticket :-)
Jokes aside, FSM help the country if the voter’s decisions are based simply on a name.
January 4th, 2007 at 12:44 pm reply
Bongo, oh yeah! I completely expect that to happen in any red state given the controversies in Florida and Ohio.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:59 am reply
They should seriously cash in on his eye candy status. :)
January 5th, 2007 at 9:49 am reply
Sqrl, OK! I wouldn’t know about that but I guess, whatever rocks your boat :)