Obama and Clinton teams spar over African dress pictures
Monday, 25 Feb 2008 19:19
Obama and Clinton teams trade accusations after publication of photograph of Mr Obama in traditional African dress.
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A picture of Barack Obama in traditional
African dress has led his campaign team to trade accusations with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's staff.
The picture, obtained by the Drudge Report website, shows the Illinois senator in local garments while visiting Wajir in the north-east of Kenya in 2006.
According to the website, the photograph of Mr Obama - whose father was Kenyan - was circulated by members of the Clinton campaign team.
Its publication comes just a week before crucial primaries in Texas and Ohio, with Ms Clinton's bid to follow her husband Bill into the White House hanging by a thread.
The picture shows Mr Obama - whose campaign team have repeatedly stressed his staunch Christianity - wearing a white turban and a white robe, a traditional Somali style of dress.
In response to the photograph's emergence, Mr Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe said: "On the very day that Senator Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign team has engaged in the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election."
He added: "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."
However, Maggie Williams, Ms Clinton's campaign manager, denied Mr Plouffe's accusations.
"If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed," she argued.
"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. We will not be distracted."