Free Republic

Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) sits with the Rev. Al Shaprton (R) during a campaign stop at Sylivia's restaurant in New York, November 29, 2007. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

<p>Barack Obama complained on Wednesday about an Internet photo that claims the Democratic presidential candidate didn't hold his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance.</p> <p>"This is so irritating," Obama said when asked about the photo in Muscatine, Iowa.</p>

Barack Obama announced his bid for president Saturday, a black man evoking Abraham Lincoln's ability to unite a nation and a Democrat portraying himself as a fresh face capable of leading a new generation. "Let us transform this nation," he told thousands shivering in the cold at the campaign's kickoff. Obama, 45, is the youngest candidate in the Democrats' 2008 primary field dominated by front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and filled with more experienced lawmakers. In an address from the state capital where he began his elective career 10 years ago, the first-term U.S. senator sought to distinguish himself as...

January 16, 2007 Obama To Announce On His Website Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has decided to run for president and will file exploratory committee papers later today, Democratic sources said. At 10:00 am ET, Obama will post a video announcement on his website. http://www.barackobama.com/main.php

Crazies Link Obama to Terrorism Senator Barack Obama has an unusual problem for a potential presidential candidate. His first name rhymes with Iraq, his middle name is Hussein, and his last name rhymes with "Osama". Of course, when his parents named him 45 years ago, they would have no way of knowing that we'd be at war in Iraq, that Saddam Hussein would be the dictator we overthrew, or that Osama bin Laden would have led an attack against the United States, let alone that their new baby boy might someday make a run for the presidency. Almost two years...