thanks for bringing a bit of levity to this ridiculousness.

I think the photo doctoring is definitely an attempt to "Africanize" Obama.  The 'face squishing' makes his nose look wider and more African.

Others have suggested that darkening and desaturating the footage is normal for political attack ads trying to cast the target as sinister.  That may be, but it's not an acceptable excuse.

Read the Langston Hughes essay, "That Word Black"

Now as I were saying, the word  black,  white folks have done used that word to mean something bad so often until now when the N.A.A.C.P. asks for civil rights for the black man, they think they must be bad. Looking back into history, I reckon it all started with a  black  cat meaning bad luck. Don't let one cross your path!

"Next, somebody got up a blacklist on which you get if you don't vote right. Then when lodges come into being, the folks they didn't want in them got blackballed. If you kept a skeleton in your closet, you might get blackmailed. And everything bad was black. When it came down to the unlucky ball on the pool table, the eight-rock, they made it the black ball. So no wonder there ain't no equal rights for the black man."

"All you say is true about the odium attached to the word black," I said, "You've even forgotten a few. For example, during the war if you bought something under the table, illegally, they say you were trading on the black market. In Chicago, if you're a gangster, the Black Hand Society may take you for a ride. And certainly if you don't behave yourself, your family will say you're a black sheep. Then, if your mama burns a black candle to change family luck, they call it black magic."

"My mama never did believe in voodoo, so she did not burn no black candles," said Simple.

"If she had, that would have been a black mark against her."

"Stop talking about my mama. What I want to know is, where do you white folks get off calling everything bad black? If it is a dark night, they say it's black as hell. If you are mean and evil, they say you got a black heart. I would like to change all that around and say that the people who Jim Crow me have got a white heart. people who sell dope to children have got a white mark against them. And the white gamblers who were behind the basketball fix are the white sheep of the sports world. God knows there was few, if any, Negroes selling stuff on the black market during the war, so why didn't they call it the white market? No, they got to take me and my color and turn it into everything bad. According to white folks, black is bad.

"Wait till my day comes! In my language, bad will be white. Blackmail will be a white mail. Black cats will be good luck, and white cats will be bad. If a white cat crosses your path, look out! I will take the black ball for the cue ball and let the white ball be the unlucky eight-rock. And on my blacklist––will be a white list then [...].

   * Witches are dressed in black and good fairies in white.
   * Melodrama villains are dressed in black (Darth Vader) and heroines in white dresses. In Hollywood "Westerns," bad cowboys wear black hats while the good ones wear white.
   * Funeral dress is black, wedding gowns are white.
   * Black magic is malevolent; white magic is benevolent.
   * The black-market is illegal.
   * Blackmail is illegal and immoral.
   * The black sheep of the family is the ne'er-do-well.
   * Black Friday is when the Dow crashed.
   * The infamous "black hole of Calcutta."
   * To black-list someone is to put them on a "bad" list.
   * To blackball them is to block them from being admitted.
   * Black thoughts are dark (ahem) ones.
   * A black mood is a bad one (e.g. Churchill's depression). "Paint It Black" (Rolling Stones), referring to depression/mood.
   * Dark days, dark thoughts, dark expression crossed his face -- all bad.
   * A black cat means bad luck, don't let one cross your path.
   * The unlucky pool ball, the eight, is the black ball -- sink it and you lose. (The power-ball with which you sink all others is white -- the cue-ball.)
   * A black mark against you is a bad thing.
   * A dark night is "black as hell". (Is hell black, and heaven white?)
   * A black-hearted person is mean and unloving.
Etc.

While there are some positive associations in English (e.g., "in the black" means cash-positive, vs. in the red), they are much fewer.  

this to her advantage to scour up her vote base?  Christ's Sake.

...beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once she starts down the dark path, forever will it dominate her destiny.

I've done some calling for Obama.  Although when we reach a strong Hillary supporter we are advised to end the conversation politely, another phone banker told me how she sometimes can politely extend the conversation, and sometimes has even changed some minds.  

I can only report on one call, as most of my calls were "not home" so I only spoke with a few people in my limited time.

I asked the Latina "strong Hillary supporter" out of curiosity for her motivations and reasons, and we had a nice friendly discussion.  She felt comfortable sharing her views.  And they were so racist I was having a hard time staying on the Obama high road but I managed to do it and respond respectfully.  

And in effect after saying that her primary reason for voting for Clinton was that it was high time we had a woman in the White House, she then projected these motivations onto Obama saying that he would only be promoting an African-American agenda if elected. She then went on to a lot of other racist comments about African-Americans in general and personal stories related to Katrina victims in her family etc.  

I think I countered nicely and who knows, if Obama is our nominee my call may help her to not defect, since I think she left the call with a positive feeling towards how I listened to her.