i think "to make people afraid" is a pretty direct call of racism when its in reference to a picture taken in Africa in traditional African clothes.

The pictures were being used to imply Obama was Muslim since the garb looks Muslim or Arab to most people. That was the calculation.

You're absolutely right. It shows poor judgment that Obama said he took Hillary Clinton at her word.

That would be almost be as stupid as voting for the Iraq War because you took George W. Bush at his word. Only an imbecile would do that.

Obama should have called Clinton a liar to her face.

Of course, then Howard Wolfson would have had a fainting fit because Obama had engaged in a "negative attack."

I think it's really cute that the Clinton team claim that they have no way of knowing whether the ad was leaked by their staff. How could they ever ask every one of their 700 staff members if they were responsible? I mean, it would be almost as hard as George W. Bush trying to find out if someone, say, leaked the name of an undercover C.I.A. operative. It just can't be done!

The tactics we are getting from the Clinton campaign now are the same tactics we can expect from a Hillary Clinton presidency. Let's not have any illusions about that.

The NYT Op/Ed piece that a poster mentioned above, written by Orlando Patterson, professor of sociology at Harvard, ended with: It is possible that what I saw in the ad is different from what Mrs. Clinton and her operatives saw and intended. But as I watched it again and again I could not help but think of the sorry pass to which we may have come — that someone could be trading on the darkened memories of a twisted past that Mr. Obama has struggled to transcend.

"it is possible"....."what I saw in the ad is different"...."watched it again and again"....."we may have come".....

So, Professor Patterson, a surrogate for Obama, admits, in essence, that he has no idea what the ad's *subliminal* message is, but he'll be glad to conflate it into something RACIST to continue Obama's meme.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose!

Obama preaches for a new politics but he ignores his own gospels by reusing Republican memes for mudslinging Hillary. He's gotten a lot of mileage out of the "Clinton will do anything" and "Clintons are racist" memes so he's not willing to let those die. Talk about throwing the kitchen sink!

He must be taking flipflop lessons from John Kerry.

I apologize- I've told myself 100 times i will not get involved in yet another obama-clinton race relations conversation as i do not believe it is in any way is a good forum for conversations which help people grow and understand the issue.

It's too confrontational in a political setting.

over the message and intention of the Obama photo, try this test: Does it look like, smell like, taste like shit?

Opus, I started out this campaign with a great deal of respect for Mrs. Clinton. As a matter of fact, I was a bit torn as to whom I would give my support. After much investigation and thought, I chose Mr. Obama, but only by a slight margin and would have been happy to support either candidate as the nominee. Sadly, as I have contrasted the behaviors of the two candidates during the last few weeks, I have found myself losing all my respect for Mrs. Clinton.

Like Mr. Obama, at the time of that debate, I gave Mrs. Clinton the benefit of the doubt; however, her actions since then have caused me to change my mind. I now believe that the distribution of that photo was just part of her campaign's "kitchen sink" strategy, which by the way IS quite "Rove-esque" in nature. Mrs. Clinton's actions have shown me that she is power hungry and willing to do or say anything to win.

Yes, Obama fans the "Clinton is racist" meme just in time for the Mississippi primary - coincidence?

whether the [photo] was leaked by their staff

There was no "leakage," nor even any "release" of the photo. It was from AP, taken during its coverage of Obama's trip to Africa in 2006. Word doesn't seem to have gotten around that it had appeared in the February 4 issue of the tabloid "National Examiner," or that it was posted on two right-wing blogs the weekend before Drudge put it up.

As far as we know, there was no "circulation" of the photo either. According to Drudge, a Clinton staffer emailed it to another Clinton staffer, or staffers, remarking that any photo of Hillary in native garb would have been on the front pages.

We don't know how, or even whether, Drudge obtained a copy of this alleged email, or if he did, whether it actually originated with a Clinton staffer. We have only his word for it.

This is the basis of Obama's claim that the Clinton campaign "starts leaking photographs of me...wearing native clothes...to make people afraid"?

And Clinton is the one using "Republican tactics"??

BTW, the teaser line below the link to Koppelman's post is, "The Illinois senator goes after his opponent, and considers her campaign's culpability in a recent controversy."

No, he didn't "consider" her campaign's culpability in the photo controversy. He flat-out accused her campaign of being culpable...without a shred of evidence.

Seems a little pussified to complain that campaigning is...oh, campaign like and such. Much too dirty for Jesubama to be involved in.

She's campaigning like a Republican. She's doing Karl Rove's and John McCain's heavy lifting. Obama should paint her as a "Republican" every chance he gets...and his chances should be boundless.

Oh, please.

Like Obama needs to raise questions about Clinton's racial manipulations to win Mississippi.

Also, for the record, I don't think the real point is that Clinton is a racist.

It's more that Hillary Clinton is an unscrupulous person who will say or do anything to get elected. The racism is just incidental to the fact that she happens to be running against a black man.

She'll use any weapon at her disposal and that just happens to be the weapon at hand.