A CONSERVATIVE PUNDIT in the United States has been accused of racism after posting a picture to Twitter which seemed to attack Barack Obama for his lack of military service.
David Limbaugh, the brother of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and the author of a book lambasting Obama’s record in office, tweeted the photograph which he said had been passed on by a friend.
The photo – titled ‘Boys will be boys’ – compares Texan governor and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry, and Obama, apparently while both were aged 22.
In the photograph, Perry is seen posing beside a plane he flew during his time in the Air Force, while Obama is pictured in civilian clothing and a casual hat, smoking a cigarette.
While the photo appears to be an obvious nod to the President’s lack of time in uniform, Limbaugh has also been accused of racism in posting it – not least because the photograph gets Obama’s age wrong.
It has emerged that the photograph of Obama, who was attending Occidental College at the time that the photograph was taken by a fellow student, was only 19 at the time it was taken.
But the photograph also gives Obama’s full name (‘Barack Hussein Obama II’) – prompting accusations that Limbaugh or the photograph’s creator wanted to again illustrate Obama’s middle name, shared with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
Glynnis MacNicol of Business Insider described the ad as ‘incredibly offensive’, while the Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri described the ad as merely a “handy side-by-side primer on how to look good and how to look awful in a picture.”
US website Politico offered a photograph of Mitt Romney, who at 22 was a Mormon missionary, and included a comment from a Rick Perry spokesman who simply offered: “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Limbaugh responded by arguing that Obama’s liberal supporters exploited the president’s race, and added that people “falsely alleging racism” on his part were “shameless”.
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