I receive a forwarded email from someone in my family or a concerned neighbor almost every day. Months ago, they detailed how Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is a radical Muslim who was educated at a Saudi-financed Wahhabist madrassa. The new batch focuses more on reality, discussing—at length—the comments of Reverend Wright. But no matter what the subject, the saliency and effect of these Internet conversations hold a lesson for the young Senator.

The Urban Legends Reference Page cites rumors about Barack Obama as its number one “hottest urban legend.” Emails state that Obama “will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance” and was “sworn in on the Koran.” Obama is accused of being a “covert worshipper of the Muslim faith” and that his church excluded non-blacks.

These emails have bounced around the Jewish community with special frequency and became so widespread and sensationalized that the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the Anti-Defamation League, and the American Jewish Congress, along with some of Obama’s Jewish supporters like Boston Philanthropist Alan Solomont and Congressmen Rothman (D-NJ) and Wexler (D-FL) felt it necessary to speak out about the rumors and set the record straight. The senator himself said in an MSNBC debate on January 15 th, “I am a Christian. I have been sworn in with a Bible. I pledge allegiance and lead the pledge of allegiance sometimes in the United States Senate, when I am presiding.”

But now the Internet discussion has taken another turn, and these new emails are based in truth. This batch focuses on the pastor of his church, Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., and his anti-Semitic remarks and affinity for Louis Farrakhan. They also go into lengthy criticisms of his foreign policy team for seemingly anti-Israel remarks. Fortunately, despite the rhetoric, Obama has not lost the support of all Jewish voters, winning their vote by substantial margins in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

What matters, should Senator Obama secure the nomination, is that both the true and false emails will continue to dog his efforts and work to define him before he has the chance to define himself. Islamophobia and pro-Israel sentiment are present in a vast majority of the electorate and having the middle name “Hussein” Obama already begins with a strike against him. And as the media begins to report more and more upon Rev. Wright’s Black Nationalist and anti-Semitic sentiments, passions will be inflamed. Wright understands the controversy surrounding his role inObama’s life, even commenting, “When his enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell.” Wright was referring to a trip to visitMuammar el-Qaddafi.

The question remains, does Obama understand the extent of the problem? True, he denounced Farrakhan’s views and the award he received from the church and issued statements of his disagreements with Rev. Wright, but has ultimately neither disavowed the pastor nor left the Trinity United Church of Christ. He repeats that Wright is not his political adviser, but continues to donate money to the church and counts Wright as a close friend and mentor.

It is an unfortunate reality of human nature that rumor and sensationalized news catch our attention and stay in our memory much longer than policy speeches and detailed plans. Citizens who receive emails about Obama’s minister’s beliefs or father’s beliefs or adviser’s beliefs owe it to themselves to learn about Obama’s beliefs. They should read the foreign policy address he gave at DePaul University in October, the speech he gave at an AIPAC Foreign Policy Forum and examine the backgrounds of advisers like Lawrence Korb, Dennis Ross, Richard Clarke, and Sarah Sewell.

Unfortunately, that takes work, and rumors are only a click away. If Obama’s staff and supporters do not work early and often to define Obama before these spurious and not-so-spurious emails do, certain first impressions and gut emotional beliefs will linger and affect a wide swath of voters. His supporters owe it to the candidate to make his record clear. It is a record of strength and a vision of a more promising tomorrow—a tomorrow when our moral stature is restored and our nation is safe and secure. And nothing can change that, least of all a few bigoted and false emails we get from that uncle.