Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe accused Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign of “shameful offensive fear-mongering” for circulating a photo of her Democratic rival in African tribal garb.
Plouffe told the Internet news site Politico the move was part of a “disturbing pattern.”
The 2006 photo, featured on the Drudge Report, shows Obama fitted as a Somali elder during his visit northeastern Kenya.
The Politico said the Clinton campaign did not deny the charge but did not comment further.
Plouffe said in a statement: “On the very day that Senator Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign has engaged in the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we’ve seen from either party in this election. This is part of a disturbing pattern that led her county chairs to resign in Iowa, her campaign chairman to resign in New Hampshire, and it’s exactly the kind of divisive politics that turns away Americans of all parties and diminishes respect for America in the world.”
The Clinton campaign’s Maggie Williams responded with a statement, the Politico reported, saying ” Enough. If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.”
Williams said, “This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry. We will not be distracted.”
Retired Air Force Gen. Scott Gration, who accompanied Obama on the Kenya trip, defended the senator, saying he was merely being a “great guest,” reported the Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet.
Gration said Obama, whose father was Kenyan, was treated as a head-of-state during the visit.
Gration, who spent much of his youth in Africa, explained the entourage was witnessing a “community mobilization” in the rural Wajir region, including an auction of camels and other livestock.
During the event, Gration said, Obama was given the outfit, and “as a great guest,” he tried it on, just as people “try on Christmas gifts” they may not want to keep.
Obama did “what any leader should do … accept the gift, accept the hospitality,” said Gration. Obama was “accepting a gift of friendship in a way we expect.”
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