From Politico:
An Obama campaign ban on green clothing during the candidate’s visits to Israel and Jordan has created wide puzzlement among observers of the Middle East.
In a memo to reporters, described as “a few guidelines we sent staff before departure to the Middle East,” Obama advance staffer Peter Newell laid out rules on attire for Jordan and Israel.
First among them: “Do not wear green.”
An Obama aide explained to reporters that green is the color associated with the militant Palestinian group Hamas. But while the color does appear on Hamas banners, there is no particular symbolism to wearing green clothes, experts said.
Moreover, green is more generally seen as a symbol of Islam.
“A ban on wearing green seems bizarre,” said Richard Bulliet, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Columbia University, who said the color is associated with the family of the Prophet Mohammed.
“I would hazard the guess that the campaign's concern is more with distorted—and religiously inaccurate—reporting by Obama's detractors than with any actual signal that might be conveyed,” he said, referring to false rumors that Obama is a Muslim. “You don’t want to have some blogger come along and say ‘Obama is showing his true color.’”
“I think they’re just being overcautious to a ridiculous degree,” Bulliet said.
Mohamad Bazzi, a professor of journalism at New York University and former Middle East bureau chief for Newsday, called the instruction “very strange.”
If Obama doesn't want to wear green, that's his prerogative. He doesn't want to appear to be a Muslim or a Hamas sympathizer. OK.
But for the campaign to recommend that journalists follow Obama's dress code is pretty weird.
If the concern is that "some blogger [would] come along and say 'Obama is showing his true color,'" I don't see why journalists should keep from wearing green. Is some blogger going to say a journalist is showing his true color? I don't see why.
Are the journalists considered to be part of Obama's campaign?
I guess that would make sense.
2 comments:
One wonders when the "journalists" are going to rebel.
It's part of their nature, after all; and journalists are VERY restive when they smell Arrogance.
There are signs that a rebellion is brewing.
Andrea Mitchell seemed pretty ticked off about all the restrictions placed on the media by the Obama camp.
I wouldn't be surprised to see her violating the dress code.
Does she have the audacity to wear green? I think she does.
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