The "Other" Label

By August 2008, the tone of the presidential campaign between Barack Obama and John McCain was growing negative. The Wall Street Journal noted the re-entry of the issue of race into the campaign when McCain accused Obama of "playing the race card." Obama had told crowds in rural Missouri that the McCain campaign would try to make voters "scared of me...he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

In 2012, President Obama still battles the "other" label. A July study by Pew Research Center shows that while 16% of conservative Republicans identified Obama as a Muslim in 2008, that number has grown to 34% today. Obama identifies himself as a Christian.