The storm over the cover of the 'New Yorker' has highlighted just how much Barack Obama still struggles to challenge perceptions - and misperceptions - about him, writes Denis Staunton, Washington Correspondent.
BARACK OBAMA and John McCain agree about little these days, but their campaigns came together this week to condemn as "tasteless and offensive" a cartoon on the cover of the current issue of the literary and political weekly, the New Yorker.
Barry Blitt's drawing shows Obama in Muslim garb fist-bumping his wife Michelle, who is wearing camouflage fatigues with an assault rifle over her shoulder, as they stand in the Oval Office, where an American flag is burning in the fireplace and a portrait of Osama bin Laden hangs on the wall.
"Well, I know it was the New Yorker's attempt at satire," a po-faced Obama told CNN's Larry King.
"I don't think they were entirely successful with it. But you know what, it's a cartoon, Larry, and that's why we've got the First Amendment."
The magazine's editor, David Remnick, said the cover was transparently an effort to poke fun at the outlandish rumours that have swirled around Obama since the presidential race began and that he was baffled by the response to it.
"It's really no fun to have to explain satire and I'm not in the business of having to do it," he said.
"We're the New Yorker, this is what we do. And we were certainly not trying to offend anyone with this cover; we thought that people would laugh at the ridiculousness of it."
Obama has cause to be sensitive, however, as the slanders about himself and his wife are repeated daily in e-mails and right-wing blogs and on conservative talk radio. His campaign has launched a website to counteract the smears, refuting such rumours as, "Michelle Obama says 'whitey' on a tape"; "Barack Obama can't produce his birth certificate"; "Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim"; "Barack Obama won't say the Pledge of Allegiance" and "He won't put his hand over his heart".
A Newsweek poll this week found that 12 per cent of Americans believe that Obama took his oath of office as a senator on the Koran, 26 per cent believe he was raised as a Muslim and 39 per cent believe he attended an Islamic school as a child growing up in Indonesia - none of which are true.
"The cartoon is very destructive because it perpetuates false impressions that already exist about him," says Darrell West, director of the governance programme at the Brookings Institution and the author of a number of books on politics and the media.
"Barack Obama is different. We've never nominated anyone other than a white male. So when you introduce someone from an entirely different background, it leads to rumours, fears and paranoia about who the person is."
West maintains that Obama's race is at the centre of the misperceptions about him and argues that the candidate walks a tricky path in attempting to dispel the rumours without amplifying them. He rejects the magazine's defence as naive, at best, within the context of the political reality in the US.
"The problem is that people in the hinterland don't really know that much about Obama and so the New Yorker overestimated the amount of knowledge that already exists about him," he says.
"You know, they assume because people in New York are up on things, so is everyone else. They need to get out of town a little bit more."
Obama's lead over McCain has fallen to single digits in recent weeks amid complaints that the Democrat has changed his position on a number of issues as he moves to the political centre after winning his party's nomination from the Left. Obama enjoys a huge lead on the economy and is ahead on other domestic issues, but voters say that McCain knows more about foreign policy and would be a more credible commander-in-chief.
In a New York Times/CBS News poll this week, 73 per cent of voters described McCain as "very patriotic" - but only 37 per cent said the same about Obama.
Despite doubts about his patriotism and rumours about his background, Obama is viewed favourably by a majority of Republicans and the public perception of him is generally better than it was of John Kerry in 2004.
Pollster Scott Rasmussen believes the rumours about his background will do little to damage Obama and he dismisses the storm over the New Yorker cartoon.
"Most Americans have never heard of the New Yorker," he says. "What happens in our electoral process is, if you happen to favour John McCain, you're going to believe positive things about him and negative things about his opponent - and if you happen to like Barack Obama, you'll do the reverse. I think most of what you're seeing there is people who are predisposed to vote against Barack Obama anyway."
Rasmussen notes that Obama has toughened his foreign policy rhetoric in recent weeks, promising decisive action in Afghanistan as the US withdraws from Iraq. The pollster believes this change in tone reflects the candidate's anxiety about patriotism.
"That's a potentially troublesome issue for any Democrat. It has been since George McGovern's campaign in 1972," he says.
"That area could come back to haunt him in the autumn because it fits in with people's concerns about Democrats."
ALTHOUGH OBAMA'S POLICY shifts have received more attention, McCain has also changed his position on issues like immigration reform and tax cuts and the public believes that both have flip-flopped for political advantage. Obama's manoeuvring appears to have done him greater damage, however, particularly among the younger voters who are, along with African-Americans, his most enthusiastic supporters.
A poll this week found that just 46 per cent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 now say they are certain to vote in November, compared to 66 per cent in March.
"It's hard to overstate the enthusiasm he generated during the primary season among people who don't normally take part in the political process and that came because he was seen as something other than a typical politician. So, to the extent that he appears to be more and more like any other politician, it will hurt turnout among groups that are very important to him," Rasmussen says.
"If I were on the Obama campaign, the people I would most worry about are voters under 30. Historically, they rarely participate in the political process. They have been very supportive of Barack Obama and if they begin to see him as just another politician and they stay home, that's about the best news John McCain could hope for."
The storm over the New Yorker cartoon helped to ensure that Obama dominated the news this week and the Democrat will remain centre stage next week as the television networks follow him on his international tour. This is nothing new: last month, the networks spent 114 minutes covering Obama, compared to just 48 minutes reporting on McCain.
Rasmussen believes that, regardless of whether the coverage is fair or unfair, the imbalance reflects the reality of this year's presidential election, which revolves around a single question.
"It's about Barack Obama. This is the year the Democrats should win. All the fundamentals are in their favour and if Barack Obama can convince people that he will be an acceptable president, he will win," he says.
"I have told people that it's difficult to see how John McCain can win the election, but it's fairly easy to see how Barack Obama can lose it. And no matter how you look at it, it will be the performance, the actions of Barack Obama between now and November that are the primary determinant in this election."
