Obama blames online “misinformation” campaign for creating myth that he is Muslim

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama has reportedly dismissed a recent poll showing that a third of Americans do not know whether he is a Christian, and blamed an online campaign of misinformation by his conservative enemies for perpetuating the myth that he is a Muslim.

“I can’t spend all of my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead. The facts are the facts. We went through some of this during the campaign. There is a mechanism, a network of misinformation that in a new media era can get churned out there constantly,” Politico quoted a visibly annoyed Obama, as saying.

“I will always put my money on the American people, and I’m not going to be worried too much about what rumours are floating around there,” he added.

Talking about the allegations of Glenn Beck, a controversial TV and radio talk show host, who called him a “racist” in a rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Sunday, he said: “It’s not surprising that someone like Mr. Beck is able to stir up a certain portion of the American people. … That’s been true throughout our history,”

A stunning 18 percent of Americans identify Obama as Muslim, according to a Pew poll released earlier this month. Only a third identified Obama, who speaks passionately about his faith in his autobiography, as Christian.

Obama also insisted that he still supports a proposed mosque and community center to be built near Ground Zero and denied reports that he tried to back away from backing the controversial project. (ANI)