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Obama defends himself against dubious allegation
By Andy Shaw
January 23, 2007 - He's not even an official candidate in the race for president. But Senator Barack Obama is defending himself following some highly questionable political attacks on the internet and in Washington newspapers.
One internet article claimed Obama attended a radical Muslim school as a child in Indonesia.
The internet, the blogosphere, the cable shows and, to a lesser extent, mainstream media are all abuzz about a dubious story suggesting that as a kid Barack Obama attended the kind of school that trains Muslim extremists. The story appears to be totally false but it demonstrates just how ugly a presidential campaign could be and how incredibly early the cheap shots are being fired this time around.
The buzz surrounding Senator Barack Obama in Washington Tuesday night is all about an article in a conservative online magazine called Insight suggesting that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's advisors have questions about Obama's "Muslim background," because as a child in predominantly Muslim Indonesia, Obama attended a public school that is referred in the article as a Madrasah, a Muslim seminary where in some cases students are taught radical strains of Islam, an allegation Obama calls ridiculous.
"When I was 6 I attended an Indonesian public school where a bunch of the students were Muslim, because the country is 90 percent Muslim. The notion that somehow at the age of 6 or 7 I was being trained for something other than math, science and reading is ludicrous," said Obama.
The news organization CNN visited the school recently and confirmed Barack Obama's explanation.
"This is not an Islamic school. It is general, because there are a lot of Christian students, Buddhist students," said Bandung Winadijanto, school alumnus.
"It is an indication of the climate of smear that can arise in these presidential campaigns, but also the important role that the press has in terms of making sure that stories are substantiated and that gets out rapidly," Obama said.
The Insight article cites unnamed sources questioning Obama's candor about his past and suggesting that Clinton operatives are using the issue to undermine Obama's likely presidential campaign as Clinton's strongest Democratic challenger.
"The Clinton crowd, they're a pretty tough group, and they have run some tough campaigns in the last years, and I expect the nominating process to be a lot of rough and tumble," said Rep. Jerry Weller, (R) Joliet.
The Clinton party is denying any involvement in the story and there is no indication otherwise.
It is ironic that Barack Obama is the target of this one. He has been more candid than most politicians about his own past. In two different books about his childhood, he has written about drug use as a teen. He wrote about attending a variety of schools, including Catholic, nonsectarian and Muslim-- hardly controversial shall until you run for president.
ABCNEWS.com
By Andy Shaw
January 23, 2007 - He's not even an official candidate in the race for president. But Senator Barack Obama is defending himself following some highly questionable political attacks on the internet and in Washington newspapers.
One internet article claimed Obama attended a radical Muslim school as a child in Indonesia.
The internet, the blogosphere, the cable shows and, to a lesser extent, mainstream media are all abuzz about a dubious story suggesting that as a kid Barack Obama attended the kind of school that trains Muslim extremists. The story appears to be totally false but it demonstrates just how ugly a presidential campaign could be and how incredibly early the cheap shots are being fired this time around.
The buzz surrounding Senator Barack Obama in Washington Tuesday night is all about an article in a conservative online magazine called Insight suggesting that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's advisors have questions about Obama's "Muslim background," because as a child in predominantly Muslim Indonesia, Obama attended a public school that is referred in the article as a Madrasah, a Muslim seminary where in some cases students are taught radical strains of Islam, an allegation Obama calls ridiculous.
"When I was 6 I attended an Indonesian public school where a bunch of the students were Muslim, because the country is 90 percent Muslim. The notion that somehow at the age of 6 or 7 I was being trained for something other than math, science and reading is ludicrous," said Obama.
The news organization CNN visited the school recently and confirmed Barack Obama's explanation.
"This is not an Islamic school. It is general, because there are a lot of Christian students, Buddhist students," said Bandung Winadijanto, school alumnus.
"It is an indication of the climate of smear that can arise in these presidential campaigns, but also the important role that the press has in terms of making sure that stories are substantiated and that gets out rapidly," Obama said.
The Insight article cites unnamed sources questioning Obama's candor about his past and suggesting that Clinton operatives are using the issue to undermine Obama's likely presidential campaign as Clinton's strongest Democratic challenger.
"The Clinton crowd, they're a pretty tough group, and they have run some tough campaigns in the last years, and I expect the nominating process to be a lot of rough and tumble," said Rep. Jerry Weller, (R) Joliet.
The Clinton party is denying any involvement in the story and there is no indication otherwise.
It is ironic that Barack Obama is the target of this one. He has been more candid than most politicians about his own past. In two different books about his childhood, he has written about drug use as a teen. He wrote about attending a variety of schools, including Catholic, nonsectarian and Muslim-- hardly controversial shall until you run for president.
ABCNEWS.com
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