by Carolyn Tytler

Created on: February 29, 2008

On Monday, February 25th., 2008, the Drudge Report, a web site dedicated to news and gossip, released a photo of Barack Obama, taken in Kenya, Africa, in 2006. In the picture, Mr. Obama is wearing a white turban and is dressed in traditional Muslim garments. They were presented to him by his Kenyan hosts, who encouraged him to try them on. Since his father was Kenyan, it would be understandable if Obama felt an affinity to the land and the people he was visiting on this occasion.

Drudge claimed the photo came to him from staffers in the Clinton campaign. Spokespersons for Hillary Clinton denied any knowledge of the action, and said if it came from any of their number, it was done entirely without Mrs. Clinton's consent or that of any of her senior staff.

Lately there has been speculation that the photo may have come from Republicans, who would like to further divide the two front-running Democratic candidates. A coalition ticket of Obama-Clinton would be almost unbeatable. The leading Republican candidate, John McCain, would surely have an uphill battle against such a dynamic duo.

Regardless of where the photo originated, it is unlikely to exert a negative influence on Obama's chances to attain the Democratic nomination. He is presently leading Mrs. Clinton and polls indicate he is likely to maintain the momentum that has been building in his favor.

Voters realize that every politician visiting a foreign land wears native garb when invited to do so. It is an act of courtesy. Mrs. Clinton herself often donned the traditional costumes of lands she visited when she traveled as First Lady with her husband, President
Bill Clinton.

Very few voters will be adversely influenced by the sight of Obama in a turban. Had it not been for the radical terrorists who planned and carried out the tragedy on 9/11, that photo would already have been lost in the annuls of history. It would have been no more noted than one of an Irishman wearing a shamrock.

Americans frown on dirty politics. If it is proven that the Clinton campaign was responsible for disseminating the photograph, the tactic may well boomerang and drive the final nail into the casket of Hillary's fading presidential aspirations.

On the other hand, if the photo came from the Republicans, it would show the extent of their desperation, and indicate the probable success of a coalition Obama-Clinton ticket. In either case, Barack Obama would only stand to benefit by picture's dissemination.

The majority of the American people are intelligent, tolerant, eager for change in political policy and anxious to see a fresh face in the White House. Barack Obama is the candidate best suited to fulfill these expectations. It will take much more than a two-year-old picture, in which he renders a common courtesy to hosts in a foreign land, to slow the momentum of his successful campaign. His opponents will have to come up with a better ruse than that if they hope to derail his one-way, express trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.

Learn more about this author, Carolyn Tytler.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.