Well, sure .. Saying Obama is Muslim has various connotations that allowed it to culminate to the point of terrorist. Simply being Muslim .. Obama is lying that he is Christian - why? Agenda? The insinuation that even he knows that a Muslim can’t get elected. Then of course you have the various he’s an apostate theories that think about it really hard and our national security is at stake.

In a way though I think this whole Obama Muslim thing works for him. Often the Muslim issue gets more play than the issues issue - what a way of having your name out in the public arena - being on constant defense of obvious lies. Maybe McCain should one up Obama and convert ;-)

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/muslims-and-militants-by-digby-there-is.html

I’ve been wondering since 9/11 when the right would get around to conflating the Muslim terrorists with “black Muslims” and I think it may have finally happened in the couple of Barack and Michelle Obama. It would seem odd that the right wingers would smear him as being muslim. He’s black, not arab, and it doesn’t fit the stereotype. But it does fit the stereotype of the Farrakhan type of militant black muslims and that’s what they’re getting at with this. The image of the dangerous black radical is the purpose of the muslim smear, not the terrorist association. It’s good old, All American racism.

So the point is that it’s all just in the mess of scary Other, and what the cover does is shows (or tries to) how illegible (and overdetermined?) this scary Other actually is. When Obama was just a Muslim… but now he’s also a scary Black separatist, etc.