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  • 2008-02-14 (xsd:date)
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  • Obama Explains National Anthem Stance? (en)
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  • Back in October 2007, one of the hottest e-mail forwards was a picture capturing Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama standing in front of a U.S. flag (at an Iowa political event) with his hands clasped in front of him during the playing of the U.S. national anthem (while other persons on the platform with him stood with their hands placed over their hearts). This photographic brouhaha soon mutated into a (false) claim that Barack Obama refused to put his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance and then into the (even more false) claim that he refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at all (rumors which the Obama campaign soon provided evidence to negate). While this controversy was all the rage on the Internet, political columnist John Semmens included a bit at the end of one of his satirical Semi-News columns (found on the web site of The Arizona Conservative) offering a mock explanation from Senator Obama about his non-hand-over-heart stance, poking fun at the candidate by having him voice the opinion that the American flag is a symbol of oppression and that the U.S. national anthem is too bellicose and should be replaced by something gentler like I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing: This bit of satire evidently came off as too believable to some readers, as it was excerpted from Semmens' column and forwarded via e-mail (without attribution) as a genuine statement from Senator Obama. However topical it might have been, it was just a bit of political commentary-cum-humor, not Barack Obama's own words. In September 2008, this same piece began arriving in our inbox with extra text supposedly quoting Barack Obama on his plans to disarm America and end hostilities with Islamic nations, headed by the claim that it was derived from the 7 September 2008 airing of Meet the Press and naming the interviewer as General Bill Ginn, USAF (ret.): It goes without saying that Senator Obama wasn't among the guests on that day's Meet the Press program (which featured Senator Joe Biden and author Tom Friedman), nor did he make the comments attributed to him on that show or in any other forum. (Later versions of the message also falsely attributed its authorship to Dale Lindsborg of the Washington Post.) The following (also fabricated) statement about flag burning purportedly made by Barack Obama was appended to later versions of the e-mail: (en)
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