(Adds background, analyst comment)

WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda deputy Ayman al Zawahri's message criticizing U.S. president-elect Barack Obama and urging attacks on "criminal" America demonstrates the militant network is isolated but still a threat, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on Wednesday.

"The message, unsurprising in its bitter tone and content, is remarkable chiefly as an additional sign that al-Qaeda is out of touch with so much of the world. But, even in its growing isolation, this is still a group that can do serious damage," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity,

Zawahri said in the message that the incoming president would fail if he followed Bush's policies, reinforced troops in Afghanistan and did not withdraw from Muslim lands.

Analyst Adam Raisman of the SITE Intelligence group, a U.S.-based terrorism monitor, said Zawahri's audio recording was the first authoritative al Qaeda message on Obama's Nov. 4 election, but it was not certain that he recorded it after the election.

Zawahri appears to being shifting al Qaeda's focus to Obama as the face of U.S. policy after long portraying outgoing President George W. Bush in that role, and seeking to justify further attacks against the United States, Raisman said.

The threats contain little new, he said. "It's the same message that he's been carrying for quite a few years -- 'you either leave our lands or suffer the repercussions.'"

By accusing Obama of betraying his father's Muslim heritage and comparing him unfavorably with the black American Muslim leader Malcolm X, Zawarhi also seems to be seeking to counter Obama's broad international popularity and to cast him in a negative light to al Qaeda supporters, Raisman said. (Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen; Editing by Kristin Roberts)