By IINA,
Washington : American Muslims also denounced Obama’s satirical caricature.
“Unfortunately, the New Yorker’s front cover cartoon failed to achieve its stated goal of exposing and lampooning right-wing caricatures of the Obamas,” said the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). “These inflammatory images and spurious associations will only serve to reinforce the racism and anti-Muslim stereotypes that the magazine says it is out to challenge.”
Obama, who aspires to become the first black president in U.S. history, has been facing smear campaigns since unveiling his presidential bid. Obama’s middle name, Hussein, and a picture of him in a traditional Somali garb during a visit to his father’s homeland Kenya in 2006 stoke the “Obama is a Muslim” flames. For weeks, he had to put up with news reports and rival remarks of being a Muslim in disguise. Obama is the son of a Muslim-turned-atheist Kenyan father and a white American mother that did not practice religion. Born in Hawaii, he lived from ages 6 to 10 in Indonesia with his mother and Muslim stepfather. Even Obama’s wife Michelle was not spared the campaign fire with accusations of slurring white people.