Campaigns spar over Obama in tribal gear

Source: China Daily | 02-27-2008 12:55

WASHINGTON: A photograph circulating on the Internet of Democratic Senator Barack Obama dressed in traditional local garments during a visit to Kenya in 2006 is causing a spat in the presidential campaign over what constitutes a smear.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., right,  is dressed as a Somali Elder by  Sheikh Mahmed Hassan, left, during his visit to Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya, near the borders with Somalia and Ethiopia in this  file photo from Aug. 27, 2006. The  garb was presented to Obama by elders in Wajir. Obama's estranged late father was Kenyan and Obama visited the country in 2006, attracting thousands of well- wishers. [Agencies]

The Associated Press photograph portrays Obama wearing a white turban and a wraparound white robe presented to him by elders in Wajir, in northeastern Kenya. Obama's estranged late father was Kenyan and Obama visited the country in 2006, attracting thousands of well-wishers.

The gossip and news website The Drudge Report posted the photograph on Monday and said it was being circulated by "Clinton staffers" and quoted an e-mail from an unidentified campaign aide. Drudge did not include proof of the e-mail in the report.

"I just want to make it very clear that we were not aware of it, the campaign didn't sanction it and don't know anything about it," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said in a teleconference with reporters. "None of us have seen the e-mail in question. If anybody has independent reporting that they've done on it I would welcome it."

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe immediately accused Clinton's campaign of "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election".

Obama's foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, said the circulation of the photograph was divisive and suggests "that the customs and cultures of other parts of the world are worthy of ridicule or condemnation".

Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams said the Obama campaign's reaction was inflaming passions and distracting voters.

She said in a statement: "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."

Editor:Zhang Pengfei