Obama campaign fires up anti-rumor mill

Nia-Malika Henderson
Newsday  —  6/16/2008 6:42 am

Barack Obama presumably is running against John McCain in the autumn, but he's grappling with a second, more insidious opponent as well -- a virulent rumor mill.

While gossip and innuendo have long swirled around political candidates, those whispers in recent years have become full-throated roars -- fueled by the speed and reach of the Internet.

So Obama, who for at least two years has been dogged by falsehoods about his faith and questions about his patriotism, is going on the offensive, launching a Web site that takes on every rumor, and rumormonger, chapter and verse.

The site, fightthesmears.com, will be run by Obama staffers from communication, research and policy departments, a clear indication of how seriously Obama's campaign takes trying to control the rumor mill.

It's a potentially risky strategy -- indeed, an old adage in politics goes that if you're responding to what someone else said, you're losing. Obama also runs the risk of exposing more people to the rumors by trying to rebut them in such detail.

The campaign also is betting that voters will get to know Obama well in the saturation coverage of a presidential race, but that's no guarantee he'll get the benefit of the doubt when a particularly harsh rumor arises.

"Familiarity with a candidate can be an effective rebuttal to rumors designed to inspire fear. But the problem in confronting a rumor is that it is impossible to prove a negative," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, co-author of "Presidents Creating the Presidency: Deeds Done in Words."

Until now, Obama occasionally has mentioned the circulated e-mails about him being a Muslim (he is a Christian) from the trail, most notably in a speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

He also began wearing a flag pin to take away one line of attack favored by his opponents. And on the Web site, there is a video post of Obama reciting the Pledge of Allegiance -- an attempt to bat down the rumor that didn't recite the pledge.

Obama called the gossip a "destructive aspect of our politics," and said it was a game that he hoped people don't play. "Simply because something appears in an e-mail, that should lend it no more credence than if you heard it on the corner," Obama said.

The e-mails have gained footing among some voters, which means a full-court press as viral as the rumors themselves is the only way to fight back, staffers said.

A March poll by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press found that 1-in-10 voters believe Barack Obama is Muslim; along party lines, the poll found that 14 percent of Republicans, 10 percent of Democrats and 8 percent of independents held that view. It is a falsity that has had staying power, even after the flap over Obama's former church, Trinity United Church of Christ.

Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, said the campaign will move quickly to rebut falsehoods, both substantive and personal, but will also add bits of biography to help voters get to know the candidate.

"It's very hard to demonize someone who people get to know very well," Axelrod said. "Obama has a very comfortable personality and people will come to know him, and I think they will like him. I don't think that the sort of caricatures and stereotypes will be particularly effective by the end."

Yet Obama's opponent, John McCain, and his advisers likely took a different lesson from his 2000 race for the White House. Coming off a triumphant New Hampshire win, McCain got hit with racial innuendo in South Carolina. While the effort was much more low-tech -- crude fliers and phone calls filled with leading questions about McCain's health, mental stability and claims about extramarital affairs -- it was still effective, one ex-aide said.

"It got us off our game, and we were making decisions out of emotion because we were angry," said the former aide, John Weaver. "We were talking about campaign tactics rather than about policy and that's when you start to lose."

But Jamieson said she believes Obama's plan to direct supporters to a rebuttal Web site is more effective than going to TV and newspapers, where the effect would be to increase the number of people familiar with the rumor, even in an attempt to correct it.

Obama's anti-rumor Web site confronts one particularly persistent rumor head-on -- that a tape exists of Michelle Obama using a disparaging term for white people. "No such tape exists," the Web site reads.

"How can Senator Obama's wife establish that she never did something that is alleged?" Jamieson said. "She shouldn't have to prove she never said it. Those who allege it should be expected to prove that she did."

Obama has managed to reshape the political game by harnessing the power of the Internet, amassing millions of dollars and filling massive arenas with the click of a mouse. And now he'll try to do the same to combat the Web rumor mill.

"We are going to use grass-roots supporters to push back virally," said Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer. "We want them to e-mail all their friends and tell them this stuff isn't true."

Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service

Nia-Malika Henderson
Newsday  —  6/16/2008 6:42 am