That Obama Picture

Memo to all politicians. If you put on a costume, uniform, or otherwise get photographed wearing something that might be fodder for the late night talk shows and blogosphere, it will be fodder.

See the frenzied reaction tracked by memeorandum here.

Obama was spotted in 2006 wearing an African tribal outfit. Great.

I'm supposed to get outraged or surprised by this?

Can someone please provide me with a single accomplishment that Obama has to his name? I'm still waiting for his supporters to provide one.

I'm surprised that people are still taking this guy seriously when he hasn't done anything besides claim to be for hope and change.

Also, I'm not surprised that the Clinton campaign may be behind pushing these photos in the media. It's a sad testament to the Clinton machine that this is the best that they have to offer. You'd think that they'd try to hammer Obama on his lack of qualifications as President, but that too gets undercut by the fact that Hillary is similarly lacking in achievements and accomplishments.

UPDATE:
Malkin has a bunch of photos of other major politicians wearing the local color/garb or photographed with those who are wearing it. To me, the most disturbing are those of Laura Bush smiling for the camera with women who are covered head to toe in a burkha.

Photos that make politicians look foolish comes with the territory. Some hurt hard - like Kerry wearing a cleansuit and looking like he was a cast member of Bananas or Mike Dukakis wearing military headgear while riding around in a tank.

How you react as the politician in the photograph is telling. Do you, or your staff, have a thick skin, or do you need to issue caveats to everything?

Don Surber counseled to not overreact and let things peter out. Obama's folks couldn't help themselves had responded.

The garb itself is indicative of nothing. Doug at Below the Beltway notes that some try to make more of it than others, claiming that Obama is a secret Muslim. Rick Moran offers the definitive smackdown on that front.

Jammie notes the stink of desperation coming over the Clinton campaign that they're trying to make this an issue.