Ever since Barack Obama launched his bid for the presidency, he has been the object of Internet-based attacks that aim to smear his name through lies and inventions.
Now they're going after his wife.
The Obama campaign yesterday dismissed a Web-based rumour that Michelle Obama had once used the word "whitey" in a diatribe from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
Certain Republican-friendly blogs have been circulating the allegation, Fox News has raised it, and uber-conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh suggested on his program that a tape of the remarks exists.
"No such tape exists," the Obama camp responded, on fighthesmears.com. "Michelle Obama has not spoken from the pulpit at Trinity and has not used that word."
The Obama campaign launched the website yesterday to counter false accusations against Mr. Obama that are often parroted by conservative commentators, despite the absence of any evidence to support the charges.
Ms. Obama is a strong, smart, opinionated 44-year-old woman who shares many traits with her husband, and who could help, but also harm, his campaign.
The story of her rise is no less compelling than his. She and her brother Craig (now head basketball coach at Oregon State University) grew up in a one-bedroom apartment on Chicago's South Side. Her parents used fake wood panelling to subdivide the living room to create bedrooms for the children. Her father, Frasier Robinson, despite his multiple sclerosis, held down a job as a city worker, and his wife, Marian, became a secretary, after raising her children. Mr. Robinson is deceased; Ms. Robinson still lives in the apartment.
Michelle excelled as a student, ultimately attending Princeton University and Harvard Law School on scholarships and loans. The struggle of black professionals to succeed in white-dominated environments without surrendering their identity preoccupied her.
Studying at Princeton, the sociology undergraduate feared, would "likely lead to my further integration and/or assimilation into a white cultural and social structure," as she wrote in her undergraduate thesis.
Ms. Obama was a successful associate at a prestigious Chicago law firm, specializing in intellectual property, when she was assigned to mentor a summer intern. But Barack Obama wanted more than a mentor; he wanted a date. Ms. Obama resisted at first - she worried that it wouldn't be appropriate, professionally, and she wasn't crazy about his big ears - but finally relented. They were married four years later in 1992.
Both were politically ambitious; Ms. Obama at one point worked in Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's office; both focused on community activism. Their marriage has had its strains: at first over the student loans they struggled to pay off; then over Mr. Obama's ascending political career, which compromised hers as she struggled to balance work and looking after their two young daughters, Malia (now 9) and Natasha (now 6).
"What I notice about men, all men, is that their order is me, my family, God is in there somewhere, but me is first," she told the Chicago Tribune four years ago. "And for women, me is fourth, and that's not healthy."
At times, Mr. Obama wrote in The Audacity of Hope, "my wife's anger toward me seemed barely contained.
" 'You only think about yourself,' she would tell me. 'I never thought I'd have to raise a family alone.' " Despite the challenges, Ms. Obama developed a highly successful career, becoming a vice-president of the University of Chicago Medical Center - where, according to several accounts, she successfully finessed the politically delicate challenge of persuading low-income patients to avoid using the hospital's emergency room and to instead develop relations with family doctors.
Ms. Obama has also helped her husband's political rise. Her involvement in the mayor's office gave Mr. Obama entry to the all-powerful Chicago Democratic machine, which he in turn used to advance his own career.
And Ms. Obama ultimately embraced his bid to be president. She campaigns actively and effectively on his behalf, although she has toned down her public teasing of her husband: she once described him as "snory and stinky" in the morning, complained that he once rushed off to do something very important, leaving her to unplug the toilet, and lamented his tendency not to put away the butter dish or pick up his socks. She also says it was her constant nagging that finally caused him to give up smoking.
"He's one of the few men I've met who is not intimidated by strong women," she said in a 2007 interview. "He relishes the fact that I'm not impressed by him."
This plainspokenness has gotten her into trouble.
Critics lambasted her in February for declaring at one event: "for the first time in my adult lifetime I'm really proud of my country."
You'll be hearing that quote till November, courtesy of the Republican Party. You won't hear the rest of the quote, of course. It goes: "And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction, and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I've seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic, common issues and it's made me proud."
Given her background in community activism, and her lifelong exploration of race relations in America, the comment is understandable. But it has hurt Mr. Obama's campaign, reinforcing accusations that the senator is somehow not patriotic enough, and making him even more unpalatable to many working-class white voters.
But Ms. Obama could also be a great asset for Mr. Obama's campaign. For one thing, she has a charisma all her own. Vogue described her as "regally tall, stunning and city-chic."
And for women voters disappointed that Hillary Clinton did not become the first female presidential nominee, Ms. Obama offers an attractive consolation. Her own narrative is every bit as intriguing as her husband's; her own professional achievements no less impressive. And her candid assessment of the challenges women face trying to advance their own careers while confronted with the lion's share of the parenting must resonate with working women everywhere.
Ms. Obama refuses to speculate on what her priorities might be as first lady. That role, she has said, "depends on the time, it depends on the person, it depends on where they are in their life."
Though when asked if she would feel free to offer her husband her advice if he became president, she replied: "Do you think I would ever hold my tongue?"
One suspects not.
Rumours and reality
Rumours are part of any U.S. presidential election, but Barack Obama is inspiring a more damning whisper campaign than most. These are the most common rumours, and the reality:
RUMOUR: Michelle Obama used the racial term "whitey" in a speech at their former church.
ROOTS: Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh and Republican dirty-tricks specialist Roger Stone both suggested a tape of such a speech exists, and several bloggers have promoted the idea.
FOR THE RECORD: No one has claimed to have seen or heard such a tape, or talked to anyone who claims to have seen or heard it. The Obama campaign says Ms. Obama has never used "whitey." Mr. Stone now says it might be a hoax. Some Democratic commentators have suggested it's perhaps a mishearing of her saying "why did he."
RUMOUR: He's a radical Muslim.
ROOTS: There are various iterations of an e-mail circulating that says he was indoctrinated by his father and/or stepfather, and attended a radical Islamic school while being raised in Indonesia. It also says he used a Koran instead of a Bible when he was sworn into the Senate. The fact his surname rhymes with Osama and his middle name is Saddam's family name probably doesn't help either.
FOR THE RECORD: Mr. Obama is Christian, and has attended a Christian church for the past 20 years. Like about 10 per cent of Kenyans, his father was raised Muslim, but described himself as agnostic, atheist or non-practising by the time his son was born. Mr. Obama's stepfather was also Muslim, like most Indonesians, but was not particularly devout or of great influence. Mr. Obama lived in Indonesia from age 6 to 10, and attended a secular public school, as well as a Catholic school. While the Senate oath is not officially administered with a Bible, many members choose to carry one during the ceremony, which Mr. Obama did when he first took the oath in 2005. In 2007, congressman Keith Ellison was the first to carry a Koran. Mr. Obama's full name is Barack Hussein Obama Jr.
RUMOUR: He won't recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
ROOTS: This is often mentioned in the "radical Muslim" e-mail, and there is footage of him without his hand over his heart during the playing of The Star Spangled Banner in Iowa.
FOR THE RECORD: He didn't put his hand over his heart on that occasion, but he has on several others, and he has led the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of congressional sessions - always with his hand over his heart.
And what about McCain?
RUMOUR: He had an affair with lobbyist Vicki Iseman and interfered on her behalf in government matters.
ROOTS: February articles in The New York Times and Washington Post said Mr. McCain's campaign staff were concerned he'd become too close to her personally and professionally, and acted to create some distance between the two.
FOR THE RECORD: Mr. McCain and his wife deny there was any infidelity, and The New York Times ombudsman was critical of the article for its lack of independent corroboration. The head of the Federal Communications Commission, however, did rebuke Mr. McCain for his interference on Ms. Iseman's behalf.
RUMOUR: He committed treason while a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
ROOTS: A flyer handed out in January, and the website vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com, say he gave information about his flight, rescue ships and the order of U.S. attacks, told his captors "I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital," and broke the military code by responding to questioning from a Spanish psychiatrist who had apparently been co-operating with the North Vietnamese.
FOR THE RECORD: In his memoir he says that he initially offered some information because he was badly injured and afraid of dying. But, he wrote, "I didn't intend to keep my word." When interrogated, he says he identified his ship, squadron number and the target of his failed mission. When asked to name the members of his squadron, he recited the Green Bay Packers' offensive line. When asked about future targets, he mentioned cities that had already been bombed. During the 5½ years in detention, he was frequently tortured and at one point wrote a confession. "I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pirate. I almost died, and the Vietnamese people saved my life ..." he wrote, deliberately using misspellings, grammatical errors and Communist jargon to show he was writing under duress.
Sources: CNN, snopes.com, staff
John Ibbitson