I must admit. I wasn’t so happy the first time that I saw “Mama Sarah” on CNN. After noting that getting to Mama Sarah’s remote village in Kenya was almost as difficult as parting the Red Sea (my words, not hers), the reporter explained: “When we arrived, Sarah Onyango Obama was waiting with a smile as she cut up corn maize preparing animal feed. As the chickens clucked and a rooster crowed, ‘Mama Sarah’ is as busy bringing in the crops as her grandson is trying to bring in the votes.”

In this case, a video really was worth 100.000 words. Couldn’t somebody have taken Mama Sarah to the beauty shop and gotten her a nice little pant suit? With $100 million raised for his election, Obama could have probably sent her a few hundred dollars to prepare for the interview. And Michelle Obama could have lent her those white pearls she’s always wearing.

Instead, there was Mama Sarah looking as if time had stood still and she was still back in 18th century Africa surrounded by her hungry chicken. As the CNN reporter explained: “The Obamas of Kenya still live as they have for decades, even though their most famous relative is in a hotly contested race to become the next president of the United States.”

I was hoping that the CNN report would be the end of the Mama Sarah story until I opened up a Spanish newspaper today and saw a two-page spread talking about how race could enter into US politics via Obama. Though the point of the article was that we should not descend into traditional, divisive racial politics, the accompanying picture was of Mama Sarah, though the story had hardly mentioned her. There was no picture of Obama. The picture of Mama Sarah apparently said it all.

There’s no doubt that Mama Sarah has a certain Harriet Tubman-esque poise and dignity that belies her underprivileged social status (Harriet Tubman was a runaway slave that helped freed hundreds of black slaves during the 1800s. She is viewed with great respect in the black community). But there is also no doubt that her image is more Oxfam than Vanity Fair.

Perhaps I suffer from some sort of post-colonial mindset (I’m pretty sure I do. How could I not?). I mean, my Jamaican grandparents all grew up on farms, and one of my fondest memories of my grandmother is when she killed her prized chicken and served it to my sister and me on one of our annual visits.

That being said, if I were running for President, I’m not sure that that personal image would be the one I would want circulated. And if I’m being 100% honest, the issue is that I can’t imagine Mama Sarah in the White House with European royals or foreign dignitaries. I don’t know if Obama would invite her in any case, but I suspect that she wouldn’t fit in.

But maybe that’s the point. My “slave-mentality” issues aside, there’s no doubt that the politicization of Mama Sarah can be politically dangerous for Obama. White voters might be willing to tolerate him, because he represents the ideal of a colorblind America. Obama is biracial, was educated at Harvard, and is more eloquent and inspirational than even the best white candidates like Hillary Clinton and John McCain. He is the American Dream writ large.

But on an equally symbolic level, Mama Sarah is a visual reminder of the complexity of race, the pervasiveness of racial differences and the often impermeable nexus between race and social status.

And someone wants Americans to remember that if they choose Obama, Mama Sarah — and all that she represents — comes as part of the deal.

I’m not saying that Obama has to hide Mama Sarah, but if I don’t know anything about his white grandmother (or even his white mother who raised him), why do I need to know so much about Mama Sarah? Why is this story — and these images in particular — so newsworthy?

Who the hell is circulating this story about Mama Sarah? And why is it that so many traditional media outlets seem to think that the Mama Sarah back-story is so important. A Google search for “Mama Sarah Obama” generates 32,600 stories in English and, more impressively, 34.500 in Spanish.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I can’t help but remember the blog post that I wrote the other day noting that Karl Rove helped George Bush get elected Governor of Texas, beating a popular incumbent, by calling voters and insinuating that the Governor (a tough woman) hired lots of lesbians in her office. And then he helped George Bush beat John McCain by calling voters and insinuating that John McCain had fathered an illegitimate black baby.

Politicians — both Democrats and Republicans — will do anything to win, and they are not above inciting racist and homophobic fears.

The main Spanish newspaper, El Pais, is in agreement with this theory. In an article called “La Abuela y la Lágrima” (The Grandmother and the Tear Drop), the author posits that there are various groups that will do anything to guarantee that Obama loses — both Democrats in favor of Hillary and Republicans preparing for a general election. And they want to make sure that US voters get to know Mama Sarah, who speaks no English, is poor and has a third-world lifestyle.

White voters might be comfortable with Obama in the White House. But they might not be so happy imagining Mama Sarah and her clucking chickens there.

Let’s hope that they prove me wrong.