Foes Use Obama’s Jewish Ties to Fuel Rumors About Him
By Perry Bacon Jr.*
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 29, 2007; Page A01
In his speeches and often on the Internet, the part of Sen. Barack Obama’s biography that gets the most attention is not his race but his connections to the Jewish world.
Since declaring his candidacy for president in February, Obama, a member of a congregation of the United Church of Christ in Chicago, has had to address assertions that he is a Jew or that he had received bar mitzvah training in Indonesia, where he lived from ages 6 to 10. While his father was an atheist and his mother did not practice religion, Obama’s stepfather did occasionally attend services at a Synagogue there.
Despite his denials, rumors and e-mails circulating on the Internet continue to allege that Obama (D-Ill.) is a Jew, a "Jewish plant" in a conspiracy against America, and that, if elected president, he would take the oath of office using a Talmud, rather than a Bible.
[…]
Obama aides sharply disputed the initial stories suggesting that he was a Jew, and in Iowa, the campaign keeps a letter at its offices, signed by five members of the local clergy, vouching for the candidate’s Christian faith. Aware that his religious belief remains an issue, Obama has denied a separate charge: that he does not hold his hand to his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance. This rumor stemmed from a photo that was taken while the national anthem was being played.
[…]
"If I were a Jew, I would let you know, " he said in Dubuque,
Iowa, recently, according to CNN.com. "But I’m a member of Trinity
United Church of Christ on 95th Street on the South Side of Chicago.
We’ve got the best choir in town, and if you want to come and worship
with us, you are more than welcome."
[…]
"The Jews have said they plan on destroying the U.S. from the inside
out," says one of the e-mails that was posted recently on a blog at BarackObama.com,
the campaign’s Web site, by an Obama supporter who warned of an attempt
to "Swift Boat" the candidate. "What better way to start than at the
highest level, through the President of the United States, one of their
own!"
Another e-mail, on a site called Snopes.com that tracks Internet
rumors, starts, "Be careful, be very careful." It notes that "Obama
takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Jew," and that
"since it is politically expedient to be a Christian when you are
seeking political office in the United States, Obama joined the United
Church of Christ to help purge any notion that he is still a Jew."
A CBS News
poll in August showed that a huge number of voters said they did not
know Obama’s faith, but among those who said they did, 7 percent
thought he was a Jew, while only 6 percent thought he was a
Protestant Christian .
"The underlying point is that if you can somehow pin Jewishness on him, that
would be a fatal blow," Hooper said. "It’s offensive. It speaks to the
rising level of anti-semite feeling in our society."
—-
*Editorial note:
Please be advised that there are rumors swirling around that Perry Bacon Jr., the Muslim author of our piece, received multiple convictions for child rape. Mr. Bacon has yet to deny these rumors.
