Tuesday was a big day for political junkies -- both the Michigan presidential primary and a debate in Las Vegas among the three top contenders for the Democratic nomination.
During the course of the debate, the moderators asked Sen. Barack Obama about the persistent rumors circulating on the internet about him -- that he is a Muslim, that he took the oath of office on a copy of the Quran, and that he refuses to say the pledge of allegiance.
Obama responded to each of these smears, asserting that he does indeed say the pledge of allegiance and even leads the pledge from time to time when he is in the Senate.
So imagine my surprise (not really) when I clicked on the Livingston Press and Argus story Wednesday (January 16, 2008) about the election results and read:
"Amezquita said he doesn’t support Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., because Obama recently faced away from the U.S. flag during a performance of 'The Star-Spangled Banner.'
"'I thought, 'You’re disrespecting the flag when you’re going to be representing that,' he said. Amezquita didn’t say which candidate he finally did decide on."
What this voter is referring to is an incident at a fund-raiser in Iowa last year when Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson are pictured on a stage, with a large flag as a backdrop. Clinton and Richardson have their hands over their hearts. Obama does not.
All three of them seem to be looking at something off the stage -- perhaps at other flags. For awhile, a still photo of this circulated on the internet claiming that he was refusing to put his hand over his heart during the pledge, but of course, as this video shows, they were not reciting the pledge of allegiance at all. They were listening to the Star Spangled Banner. So the smear has been updated.
The internet site Snopes.com is dedicated to debunking these and other urban legends. And right now, lies about Obama are at the top of its list of "hottest urban legends."
According to Snopes.com, Obama does indeed place his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance. And he says his grandfather taught him to place his hand over his heart while saying the pledge but to sing the national anthem. Other videos show Obama with his hand over his heart during the national anthem.
As Snopes.com says, the bottom line is that one should be respectful during the national anthem. And Obama was. Certainly he was more respectful than a lot of sports fans I've observed during the singing of the national anthem.
What should the Press and Argus have done? It should not have flatly reported that he faced away from "the flag" because the newspaper does not know if there were other flags that he was facing toward. A better approach would be to say that Obama "appeared to face away from the flag, according to a photo that conservative groups critical of Obama have widely circulated on the internet."
That gives context to what occurred rather than leaving the impression that Obama was intentionally showing disrespect to the flag.
The other thing the Press and Argus could do is bookmark Snopes.com. I have a feeling it's going to come in handy over the next few months.
No comments:
Post a Comment