During the bitter presidential campaign, it wasn't uncommon to hear frightened conservatives refer to Barack Obama as an "Arab." For many xenophobic Americans, anyone with a name as Islamic-sounding as "Barack Hussein Obama" was automatically suspect.

Mr. Obama's loyalty to the United States also took a hit from those who truly believed he "pals around with terrorists," in the words of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

How do those who took Ms. Palin's ridiculous charge as gospel process the news that the foreign terrorists to whom Mr. Obama is allegedly sympathetic are just as suspicious and contemptuous of the president-elect?

In a video posted Wednesday al-Qaida's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahri, insulted Mr. Obama by comparing him unfavorably to assassinated Black Muslim leader Malcolm X for not standing up to whites. He put Mr. Obama in league with secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice and denounced all three African Americans as "house negroes."

Being called names by someone with as much blood on his hands as al-Zawahri is like being called "Stinky" by a skunk. Mr. Obama won't lose any sleep over it, but the episode should cause those who once imagined a mutual respect between Mr. Obama and Islamic terror groups to understand how ridiculous the notion was.

As an American candidate for high office and now as president-elect, Mr. Obama represents everything al-Qaida despises. The terrorists have confirmed that much.