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The comment made by Fox news Americas Pulse host E.D. Hill suggesting Senator Obama may have demonstrated a "terrorist fist jab" has been described by mediamatters.org as a teaser for a segment, with no supportive information in the actual segment. This is exactly what it seemed to have been. An underhanded way to get misinformed people to take the fist bump between Senator Obama and his wife Michelle as something entirely different that what it was. What it was, from my experience, is a gesture that simply acknowledges a job well done.

I have experienced fist bumping at my place of employment, on the basketball court and in countless other situations where good teamwork is being acknowledged. E.D. Hill apparently is not privy to this gesture of the commoner. The fact is that this fist bump points to the Obama's as not being as elitist as the conservatives would like to paint them. The elitists are the ones scrambling to discover just where this expression of accomplishment originated. The only thing I can say for E.D. Hill is that I have found the fist bump to be more prevalent among males. Maybe it is just a gender thing and maybe this is a legitimate concern for Ms Hill? The only way this is a legitimate concern for anyone is if they are out of touch with the rest of America. I live in Indiana, a conservative state by anyone's standards, I am white and I know what the fist bump means. Having said this there are some in my area with whom this Republican strategy of connecting Senator Obama to Islam and terrorism does play on their fears. The fact is, however, that many of these people are the same who could in no way be won over by Obama simply because of his race and his name. I do not think that these people within Indiana can be simply defined by there income or standing in life. The attitudes that exist about race and religion here cross over these socioeconomic classes. I know there are physicians here who would never vote for a man named Barrack Obama, as I know there are hourly service workers who are big supporters.

Voters who are under informed are easily misinformed. The fact that Eddie Hill chose this comment as a teaser proves this. The under informed voter will hear this tagline and not bother to watch the segment. This is why they are under informed. Even if they do know what the fist bump is and what it means, if they did not see the clip the connection may not be made. I, myself, having read both of Obama's books know that the insinuations about his patriotism, racism, and devotion to Islam are more than laughable.

Overall I believe the strategy may have a miniscule effect on the general election in my section of Indiana. There may be a few voters who turn out to vote against Obama because of these ridiculous and unfounded accusations. The majority of these types of voters already made up their mind about the senator when they heard his name.

Learn more about this author, Don A Shepard.
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