catch 22

It has been claimed that the Clinton campaign has "leaked" this photo of obama wearing a traditional Somali robe and head-dress.

It is presumed (at least by the Obama campaign) that the reason for doing this is to instill fear among Texas and Ohio's voting public of Obama's ties to the muslim world.

Here is where it gets tricky. Obama's campaign fired back at Clinton's campaign for doing this, and Clinton's campaign replied that Obama should not be offended by being seen in cultural dress, but should instead be proud. Clinton, herself, has worn traditional clothing of various cultures during her visits to foreign countries.

Of course, the Clinton campaign is right: There should be absolutely nothing wrong with a candidate wearing the traditional clothes of any culture if done as a form of respect.

But the majority of us know that this sort of photo is detrimental to the subconcious of the "plain folk" of mostly rural, but sometimes urban, America. "Plain folk," of course, is a euphemism for the generally unworldly folks who are typically liable to classify all non-protestant christians as hell-bound, nanotechnology as ungodly, abortion as murder, the French as enemies, all of Africa as "the jungle" or "the desert". "Plain folk" are people who generally have not spent more than a day outside of their own state, let alone the country. They have a difficult time finding Iraq on a map, and they fear that mexicans are going to turn this country into a spanish speaking pit in the span of the next 10 to 20 years.

I certainly realize that the above paragraph makes me sound like an elitist prick, and that I'm generalizing to a level that is quite beyond a simple stereotype. I had a difficult time even writing those sentences because I had the constant urge to censor myself. But we live in a world of polls and statistics, no matter how bad they are. And these polls have led my irrational brain to believe that "plain folk" have these negative qualities, just like this photo will lead the "plain folk's" irrational brains to believe that Obama is a sleeper agent for Al-Qaeda.

I recently read an article (can't link to it because i can't find it) about how politicians must use euphemisms like "plain folk" because accusing average americans of being un-aware of concepts like "bio-technology" and "Islamic pacifism" and "8th grade geography" will lead to being labeled as an elitist. The author of the article goes on to say that it isn't bad enough that the average American doesn't know where Iraq is on a map, or how the basic tenets of Islam might differ from those of Calvinism, but what is worse is that the average American feels that she DOESN'T NEED to know these things.

It is a curse of rampant anti-intellectualism currently striking this country.

Which brings us back to the Obama photo. If Obama makes a fuss about this photo being leaked he is admitting that it is a detrimental photo and thus admitting that people in America will be affected by it because they are unworldly and cannot see that wearing a traditional Somali robe and headress are a positive act. But this can easily be twisted (as by the Clinton campaign) into Obama calling Texas and Ohio voters idiots.

What is Obama to do?

Actually, I truly hope that I'm completely wrong, that my irrational brain is being irrational in trusting those awful polls, and the voters in Texas and Ohio who see the photo will think absolutely nothing of it. That's the world I choose to live in.