His family converted to Christianity and adopted the family name Gadahn when he was a teenager.

Gadahn converted to Islam in a California mosque at age 17. His father slaughtered animals and sold meat to Californian Muslims.

An essay by "Adam Pearlman" was posted on the University of Southern California's Muslim Student Association compendium of Muslim texts, the Sun said.

Titled "Becoming Muslim," it states: "As I began reading English translations of the Quran, I became more and more convinced of the truth and authenticity of Allah's teachings. ... Having been around Muslims in my formative years, I knew well that they were not the bloodthirsty, barbaric terrorists that the news media and the televangelists paint them to be."

Called "Azzam the American" in al-Qaeda propaganda tapes, Pearlman first appeared in a video by the terrorist organization in October 2004. "Allah willing, the streets of America will run red with blood," he said in the tape.

On Spetember 12, 2005, he appeared face covered in a video aired by al-Jazeera. "Four years after the blessed raids on New York and Washington, we find the people of the West continuing to speculate about the ... historic events. ... We find them uncertain about which steps or actions they must take to achieve the restoration of the security they once enjoyed," he said.

Shortly before the fifth anniversary of September 11, Pearlman appeared on al-Sahab, al-Qaeda's propaganda vehicle.

A day after the July 7 attacks in London, he appeared in a tape released by al-Qaeda to praise the attacks.

Let's start with the data:

1. Obama got low marks from almost everybody on the panel.

2. He scored badly on every single question we asked (3.75 on Iran, 4.88 on emotional attachment to Israel).

3. Obama did better than Hagel, Huckabee and Vilsack (the three ranked directly above him) on some of the questions, but on question 5, the one dealing with more general perceptions, he did worse than all three.

4. There's not one question, apart from question 5, in which Obama came last.

5. One could not detect any pattern to explain the panel's votes. There were no differences between left and right, academics and practitioners etc.

What do we learn from this? That there's a group of possible candidates (and let's face it, Obama is not what you'd call a "likely" candidate) that the panel does not trust on the issues. None of them is a "high profile" candidate in the sense that Israelis already know him very well.

And, as one panel member told me yesterday, "If you don't trust someone, you try to be careful with him." This is as true for Huckabee and Vilsack as it is for Obama. With Hagel, it's more straight forward, as he positioned himself as a critic, for which he got lower marks from many in the panel. This is also true for John Kerry, ranked fifth from the bottom, whom the panel do know but don't trust.

But, again, why did Obama come last?

I asked around and was told that Jewish activists in the Chicago area tend to think he is pro-Israel in the most sincere way. Some mentioned his trip to Israel, others highlighted his perfect record in the Senate on Israel-related issues. But the panelists still didn't feel they knew enough about him.

It's "the unknown factor," one explained. "What kind of constituency does he bring with him, and how will they influence his positions?"

Another panelist told me that, "we need more time to trust him. Voting for Israel a couple of times doesn't constitute enough of a track record on which to make a more favorable judgment."

I also asked the question that's on everyone's mind: Is it because he is African American?

The near unanimous answer, and I think it was also a sincere one, was "definitely not." One panelist even backed up his argument to a certain extent by pointing out that Condoleezza Rice ranked pretty well. So it can't be that the issue of color played a role.

However, and I'm trying to be careful, but not to mask my suspicions, I think that subconsciously it might have played a small part (one panel member told me as much). One mustn't forget that relations between the African American community and Israel aren't always good, and that many African American leaders take strong positions against Israel.

Of course, Obama is not the one to blame for that. Guilt by association, and association by color, are things we all want and try to avoid. But let's face it, we don't always succeed. And this might explain why Obama was pushed, just a little, below Huckabee and Vilsack.