Barack "Hussein" Obama

If anyone ever hears someone refer to Barack Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama," there's about a 99% chance you should just stop listening to everything they have to say. I just read an email that's the worst kind of whisper campaign, trying to suggest Barack Obama is essentially a radical Wahhabi Muslim who's partaking in a conspiracy to take over America from the inside. Paranoia much?

Think those kinds of emails are trivial? My poor aunt was utterly shocked when she read it. She couldn't believe what it had to say and had to send me the email to get my expert opinion (ha!). She even called my phone to get my email address. Barack Obama isn't trying to lead a Muslim revolution in America.

Ryan's Take isn't for people to actually vote for Barack Obama on February 5th, but that's because Obama's stump speech pisses me off, not because Obama was raised Muslim until his first or second year on this Earth. Nor does it have anything to do with the fact that, for the rest of his life, Obama's been a practicing Christian. As if any of that actually mattered.

Religion shouldn't come into play in this election. Even people who refer to Mitt Romney's religion as "crazy" often bother me. Sure, they have magic underwear, but is that any more different than a priest's stole? Mormonism is certainly different than most of Christianity, but it's not any weirder. Barack's no more trying to take over America for Muslims as Mitt Romney is for Mormons. What we, as voters, need to pay attention to is the policies and goals of all the candidates. In both cases, Romney and Obama aren't up to par - which is why neither ought to be our next President.

Note: I created a new tag for this post. "Dirty Politics." Whisper campaigns are the worst kind.