You might be right. But I think this kind of stuff gets attention because so little of his life is known, purposefully so by Obama himself.
If nothing else, this kind of stuff points that out, consciously or subconsciously. "There's a lot our president is hiding about himself."
Deepening that realization does hurt him election-wise perhaps.
So---that's why he wore this on inauguration day. It backfired
when he was asked to sing "The Shoop Shoop Song (it's in his kiss)."