Aides to Barack Obama accused Hillary Clinton’s campaign of”fear-mongering” for allegedly circulating a photo of Obama in a turban, inflaming the acrimony between the two camps in advance of tonight’s Democratic debate.
The photo surfaced on the Drudge Report Web site, where cyberjournalist Matt Drudge reported it was being distributed by “stressed Clinton staffers.” It shows Obama donning a white turban and the traditional garb of a Somali elder during his 2006 visit to Kenya, where his father was born and raised.
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson did not dispute the authenticity of an e-mail that Drudge attributed to a Clinton staffer who was circulating the photo of Obama.
“Look, we have over 700 people on this campaign and I have no idea if anyone on the campaign sent this e-mail,” Wolfson told reporters on a conference call. “I’m not in a position to ask 700 people to come in and answer questions about it.”
Supporters of Obama, who is a Christian, worried that the photo would play into concerns about the candidate’s ties to Islam, the religion of his father, stepfather and brother. Critics of Obama have delighted in pointing out that the Illinois senator’s middle name is Hussein and that he studied the Koran as a boy while living in Indonesia.
“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,” said Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe.
In December, Clinton fired one of her county coordinators in Iowa for sending an e-mail saying Obama is a Muslim. Clinton also fired her New Hampshire campaign chairman, Billy Shaheen, for publicly raising concerns about Obama’s drug use as a young man.
“This is part of a disturbing pattern,” Plouffe said. “It’s exactly the kind of divisive politics that turns away Americans of all parties and diminishes respect for America in the world.”
Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams said Obama was protesting too much.
“Enough,” she said in a written statement. “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.
“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,” she added. “We will not be distracted.”
It remained unclear whether Obama himself would counterattack during tonight’s debate at Cleveland State University. Previously, when attacked by Clinton, Obama has adopted a tone of high-minded regret.
