At a campaign event in Jackson, Mississippi, Obama said definitively that it was the Clinton campaign that leaked the now-infamous photo of him dressed in traditional African garb.
“When in the midst of a campaign you decide to throw the kitchen sink at your opponent because you’re behind,” he said, “and your campaign starts leaking photographs of me when I’m traveling overseas wearing the native clothes of those folks to make people afraid, and then you run an ad talking about who’s going to answer the phone at three in the morning, an ad straight out of the Republican playbook, that’s not real change.”
Obama made this statement in spite of the fact that previously (Ohio Debate, February 26), he told the world that he accepted Hillary's word on the matter and that it was time to move on:
"I take Senator Clinton at her word that she knew nothing about the photo. So I think that's something that we can set aside."
Recall that it was Drudge who spread the unsubstantiated story that the photo was leaked by the Clinton campaign. The photo appeared on the right wing Free Republic 2 days before it appeared at Drudge. A freeper at Free Republic commented: "Good Job, it needs to get to Drudge," and two days later it did. Before that, the photo was published in a supermarket tabloid.
Mr. Unity finished off his demonization of Hillary with the charge that she represents "the same old folks doing the same old things, talking the same old stuff."
Obama's heavily black audience cheered. The majority of Democratic voters in Mississippi are black. (CNN says that 70% of registered Democratic voters are African-American.)
Mr. Transformative Politics leads Hillary in today's Mississippi's Democratic primary by 58 percent to 34 percent, "according to the latest American Research Group survey of likely voters."
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