Obama cool on Muslim rumors

US President Barack Obama blamed on Sunday a "network of misinformation" for keeping alive persistent rumors that he is Muslim, but he shrugged off the misconception as being out of his control.

"There is a mechanism, a network of misinformation, that in a new media era can get churned out there constantly," Obama said in an interview with NBC television. "I'm not going to be worrying too much about whatever rumors are floating out there.

"If I spend all my time chasing after that then I wouldn't get much done."

Opinion polls earlier this month showed that roughly one in five Americans wrongly believe Obama is a Muslim.

The rumors, which circulate largely on the Internet, gathered steam after Obama waded into a controversy earlier this month over controversial plans to build a mosque near the site of the World Trade Center bombing.

While the controversy about his religion was given new currency following his remarks, Obama told NBC that rumors questioning his faith and nationality have swirled about him for as long as he has been in public life.

"We dealt with this when I was first running for the US Senate," he said. "We dealt with it when we were first running for the presidency. There were those who said I couldn't win as US senator because I had a funny name.

"Yet, we ended up winning that Senate seat in Illinois because I trusted in the American people's capacity to get beyond all this nonsense and focus on, 'is this somebody who cares about me and cares about my family, and has a vision for the future?'

AFP