Clinton Camp Plays Race Card

Senator Barack Obama fired one of his staffers last week because of inappropriate remarks about Senator Hillary Clinton. Senator Clinton merely said she disagrees with Geraldine Ferraro, one of her fundraisers and the 1984 vice presidential candidate, for suggesting that Senator Obama only achieved his status in the presidential race because he's Black. The Obama campaign has called on the New York senator to denounce them. Ferraro, who sits on Clinton's finance committee and has spoken at her rallies, sparked the firestorm when she was quoted by a California newspaper as saying: "If Obama was a White man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman he would not be in this position. He happens to be lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” Clinton said, "I do not agree with that," and later added, "It's regrettable that any of our supporters … say things that kind of veer off into the personal."

"I don't think Geraldine Ferraro's comments have any place in our politics or in the Democratic Party. They are divisive. I think anybody who understands the history of this country knows they are patently absurd," Senator Obama told a Pennsylvania newspaper. "And I would expect that the same way those comments don't have a place in my campaign they shouldn't have a place in Senator Clinton's either." Senator Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod said Ferraro should be removed from her position with the Clinton campaign because of her comments. "The bottom line is this, when you wink and nod at offensive statements, you're really sending a signal to your supporters that anything goes," Axelrod said. "There's no other way to send a serious signal that you want to police the tone of this campaign," he added. "And if you don't do those things then you are simply adding to the growing compendium of evidence that you really are encouraging that." Axelrod said Clinton has encountered problems because people view her as a "divisive and polarizing force. The best way to address those concerns is to not allow divisiveness and negativity to flourish among your supporters," he said. "And this is an opportunity for her to address that." Obama spokesman Bill Burton said that by refusing to disown Ferraro, Clinton "has once again proven that her campaign gets to live by its own rules and its own double standard."

Ferraro is a former New York congresswoman and was Walter Mondale's running mate when he was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1984. Senator Clinton called for Senator Obama to denounce and reject the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan and all she says is its regrettable; how about you denouncing and rejecting Ms Ferraro. This is the normal double standard mode of operation used in the Clinton campaign. It was just a matter of time before the race card was openly played in this campaign. These remarks follow a pattern of hidden racially tinged comments that needs to be addressed. Senator Clinton is in the desperate frame of mind and nothing she does for the remainder of the campaign should surprise us. I thought that it would come from the Republican side though. John McCain is sitting back and loading his gun with the Democrats own ammunition.

The latest controversy ripped between the two campaigns as primary voters in Mississippi cast their ballots in the latest installment of the Democratic White House race, with Senator Obama favored for another victory. (Senator Obama actually won the Mississippi primary in a landslide).