Obama condemns Republican Romneys Osama slur

Barack Obama, the Democrat aiming to become Americas first black president, has condemned Republican slurs about his background after a leading candidate confused him with Osama bin Laden.

London, Oct.26 : Barack Obama, the Democrat aiming to become America's first black president, has condemned Republican slurs about his background after a leading candidate confused him with Osama bin Laden.

In what aides claimed was a slip of the tongue, the former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, accused the Illinois senator of urging terrorists to converge in Iraq - as the al-Qa'eda leader did in a tape released this week. n the midst of criticising Democrats' foreign policy, he said: "Actually, just look at what Osam - uh - Barack Obama, said just yesterday. Barack Obama calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq."

Speaking on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Obama expressed scepticism that Romney was genuinely confused, and warned that Republicans would try to "make me into this foreign, clearly black person, and to scare you".

Answering a question about negative campaigning, he tried to laugh off the comparison between himself and bin Laden, saying: "I have a lot of trouble growing a beard, and he lives in a cave".

According to The Telegraph, Obama and his team suspect Romney is attempting to subliminally associate him with the terrorist.

In July Mr Romney was photographed smiling with a supporter holding a sign saying "No to Obama, No to Osama and Chelsea's Moma", the latter a reference to Hillary Clinton.

During the nine months of campaigning, Obama, 46, the son of a Kenyan father and white American mother, has very rarely mentioned his background, presenting himself as a candidate for voters of all types.

But delivering his message of change, he does deploy it as a tactical weapon.

He told the audience in Dover: "The day I am inaugurated, the country will look at itself differently, but perhaps more important the world will look at America differently."

Though Obama trails Clinton in the polls, there is plenty of fight in his campaign.

In New Hampshire, the first major primary, only 17 per cent of voters have decided whom they will back, and observers note that the state has served up surprises before.

Obama's long-held opposition to the Iraq war and plans to improve health care are also well received by independent voters who outnumber Democrats.

ANI