NAIROBI, Kenya — A Kenyan elder who presented Barack Obama with a traditional outfit that fueled false rumors he was Muslim says the garb was cultural, not religious — and that had President Bush visited, he could have “dressed him the same.”
Pictures of the Democratic presidential candidate wearing the robe and turban spread on the Internet. The gossip and news website The Drudge Report said the photo was circulated by the campaign of Obama rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. But Clinton aides said the campaign had never sanctioned its distribution.
Obama is a member of the United Church of Christ and says he has never been a Muslim. His late father was from western Kenya, and Obama visited the country in 2006. A group of elders in northeastern Kenya, including Mohammed Hassan Mumin, presented the robe; Mumin told a Kenyan newspaper Saturday that he’d presented similar clothing to other leaders.
The Associated Press
