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OBAMA BITS: Racist shirts; Japanese monkey ad; personal apology to two Muslim women; Hillary to start stumping; new campaign seal.
*Several racist t-shirts targeting Sen. Barack Obama were removed from the Web site Road Kill T-Shirts. One design featured a noose underneath the word "swing state." Another had Ku Klux Klan members chasing Obama over the phrase "Run Obama Run." The third had a drawing of the White House accompanied by the words, "They call it the 'White House' for a reason." Mike from Road Kill T-Shirts explains: “We recently hired a freelancer to create designs and post them on our site. We have teams of them and, unfortunately, these were put up in the last couple of days without approval. While the site can be edgy…I can guarantee you this is not the type of stuff we approve of.”
*A Japanese mobile phone commercial is under fire for parodying Obama's large crowds and message of change. The ad shows supporters cheering loudly at a rally and holding signs calling for “Change” while a monkey in a suit addresses them at a podium. E-mobile has used the monkey as their mascot in commercials before, and Obama has received a healthy dose of positive media coverage in the country. But critics of the ad, such as blog site Black Tokyo, say monkeys have been used in Japanese ads to portray black people in the past.
• View E Mobile ad here: http://emobile.jp/movie/2008/EMCM2008-6.html
• Read response on blog site Black Tokyo here: http://blacktokyo.com/?p=148
*Obama made personal phone calls Thursday to the two Muslim women from Michigan who were told by his campaign volunteers that they could not sit behind the presidential candidate – and in full view of TV cameras – during his speech at Joe Lewis Arena because of their Islamic head scarves. They were told by the staffers that it would create a negative impression. One of the women, Shimaa Abdelfadeel, told the Detroit Free Press that Obama called her "to personally convey his deepest apologies and acknowledge that this was inexcusable." Obama also left a voice mail for the other woman, Hebba Aref, 25, of Bloomfield Hills, according to Abdelfadeel. "We both immensely appreciate the senator's phone call and his commitment to remedy this issue," Abdelfadeel, a Sudanese American, told the Free Press. "We commend him for displaying qualities befitting an effective president," she added. "We are ready to move forward."
*Sen. Hillary Clinton will join her one-time rival Obama on the campaign trail this week in efforts to unify a Democratic Party fractured by their contentious primary fight. Obama's campaign said in a brief e-mail that the two senators and former opponents will campaign together for the first time on Friday, June 27, and more details would be forthcoming.
*Obama recently unveiled a new seal that made headlines for its close resemblance to the U.S. presidential seal. Shown for the first time Friday during a meeting of Democratic Governors at the Chicago History Museum, Obama's new seal – like the president's – has a blue background featuring an eagle clutching arrows on the left and an olive branch on right. But instead of the Latin 'E pluribus unum' (out of many, one), Obama's says 'Vero possumus', rough Latin for "Yes, we can." Instead of saying "Seal of the President of the United States," Obama's Web site address is listed. And instead of a shield, Obama's eagle wears his 'O' campaign logo with a rising sun representing hope ahead.
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