…unless you are hijabi, in which case, “change” translates as “change your position before the flashbulbs go off, sweetheart, because I’m a-campaigning!”:

Barack Obama’s campaign apologised today to two Muslim women who were moved from behind the podium at a rally in Detroit earlier this week because volunteers wanted to prevent headscarves appearing in photographs and TV shots. [source]

Despite the apology, I find myself becoming rapidly disillusioned by Obama as the days progress.

Admittedly, I doubt he could be a worse choice than McCain, but has it merely become a choice between the lesser of two devils?

A major killer in the Obama stakes, for me at least, has been the frenzied attempts to shirk association with the Islamic faith; seriously, Clinton behaved with more cool and rationale when confronted with a scarlet-lipped, grimy dress-wielding Lewinsky and an axe-grinding wife waiting in the wings.

Certainly, the response stands strikingly in contrast with his previous stance:

My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.

Alas, this is politics; but a degree of inclusion and tolerance can go a lot further than mere expostulations.