Is this man an idiot?

I don't admit to fully understanding the way the American poiltical system works, but I do keep a weather eye out for the major players. At the moment the road to the 2008 US elections is clogged with people from all sides of the political spectrum throwing their hats into the ring. However, for me, the most interesting character is Democrat Senator Barack Obama. I first came across Obama when he was interviewed on the Daily Show and he was just as funny as Jon Stewart (no mean feat). Since then I have been quite impressed by him (he certainly seems better equipped morally to be President than George Bush - but then a so is a chimpanzee...)

But certain parts of the US media have already begun the hatchet job on Obama. Wild stories and distortions of parts of his past have been hysterically screamed by Fox in particular (no surprise there).

"HIS MIDDLE NAME IS HUSSEIN!"

(so what....unless they are cynically playing up to people's fears)

"HE WAS EDUCATED IN A MADRASSA!"

(Otherwise known as, the islamic name for a school - a sensible, none-extremist school, as the reporters who actually went to the school discovered)

"HIS SECOND NAME SOUNDS A BIT LIKE 'OSAMA'!"

(ooh, there we go, back to cynically exploiting fear again. Fox captioned a news item on Obama with Osama "by mistake")

and worst of all

"HE'S A SMOKER!"

(Genuine quote on Fox "Do we really want a man like that [who smokes] in the White House?")

Now a new question has entered the ring. Clearly Obama, as you can see from the picture here, is black:

But is he black enough? Obama's Ivy League education and Mid-western accent has led many to question his credentials to be America's first black president. While being interviewed by CBS' Steve Kroft, whose picture adorns the beginning of this post, the following exchange occurred:

Kroft: Your mother was white. Your father was African?
Obama: Right.
Kroft: You spent most of your life in a white household?
Obama: Yeah.
Kroft: I mean, you grew up white.
Obama: I'm not sure that would be true. I think what would be true is that I don't have the typical background of African-Americans . . .
Kroft: You were raised in a white household?
Obama: Right.
Kroft: Yet at some point, you decided that you were black?

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but for goodness sake Mr Kroft, the man is sitting in front of you! Maybe his upbringing is not typically what you expected (which seems a little condescending by the way), but surely you can use your eyes to see that he didn't have to 'decide' on the colour of his skin!

Read this very interesting article from this weeks Guardian G2 that sparked this post.

It all seems crazy to me......