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Kenyan says Obama dress 'not religious'
He would have dressed Bush the same.
- AP
- Published: 00:03 March 9, 2008
Nairobi: A Kenyan elder who presented US Senator Barack Obama with a traditional dress insisted the outfit was cultural, not religious, in an article published in Kenya's independent daily The Nation.
Pictures of Obama wearing the robe and turban were widely circulated on the internet. A US political blogger said he had received them from two unnamed employees of Obama's rival for the Democratic presidential ticket, Hillary Clinton.
Some commentators suggested that the pictures showed Obama was a Muslim, but retired civil servant Mohammad Hassan Mumin said he had presented similar clothing gifts to several other leaders, including three Kenyan presidents and a member of the British royal family. The gifts were presented to Obama on a visit to his father's native Kenya in 2006.
If President George Bush came to visit, Mumin told The Nation, "I could have dressed him the same as Barack Obama."
In recent weeks, two volunteers on the Clinton campaign have had to resign after circulating e-mails falsely saying Obama was "a Muslim and a threat to national security", and on Friday a senior Obama aide resigned after calling Clinton a "monster" who "is stooping to anything" to get elected. Both campaigns disowned their supporters' remarks.
One of Obama's key campaign messages has been that he will not resort to the personal attacks that are often characteristic of American politics. But after a series of ads by the Clinton campaign questioning his competence, and the loss of three states this week, many analysts have begun to wonder if he can sustain that promise.
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