You can tell the presidential race has kicked off when the political mud starts flying around.

Barack Obama has, in the last two weeks, gotten a glimpse of the kind of ridiculous scrutiny and speculation only presidential contenders must face.

And it didn’t take long – the assertion that Obama had been educated at a radical Muslim Madrassa appeared on the Web site of the conservative Insight Magazine the day after he announced he would be joining the list of Democratic candidates for the 2008 presidential election.

Fox News picked up the story and hung before it, without validating the Web site’s claim.

The Associated Press later found that the school was indeed a public school, but what does that matter? The mudslinging had begun, and it didn’t stop there. A tar-and-feather brigade led, of course, by Fox News, attacked Obama’s middle name – Hussein – and even tried to suggest Obama was hiding a “dirty little” smoking secret, even though the Illinois senator had admitted during the 2004 campaign that he occasionally smoked.

Fox even went so far as to smack Obama’s face over a photo of the White House and two packs of Marlboros, over which the text read: “Would you vote for a smoker as president?”

This is from the so-called “fair and balanced” news station?

This sort of sick political strategy isn’t about what matters: issues and leadership.

This is only the first round in the presidential ring, and Obama will surely have to endure a Rocky Balboa-esque battle.