Barack Obama appears at hate group that inspired arson and murder at a Jewish-owned storeNew Tone? President Obama Kisses Sharpton's Ring reports, President Obama, embroiled in a furious battle over the federal budget, swept into New York last night for a star-studded celebration of the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network and gave the beaming civil-rights leader a rousing slap on the back. Let's review the background of Al Sharpton and the National Action Network: the same racist and anti-Semitic hate group that inspired a deranged individual to set fire to a Jewish-owned store and kill seven of its employees.