Spin Cycle

Since early January, reports have circulated that the Clinton campaign was trying to find outlets that would delve into the somewhat threadbare ties between Obama and a couple of notorious former members of the Weather Underground who live in his neighborhood, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.

Last week, they finally got some takers, and over the weeked they began trying to promote the story. Communications czar Howard Wolfson drew attention to it on the Clinton website, and his aide Phil Singer shopped it around to friendly reporters too, according to this skeptical ABC story, with the e-mailed message, ""Wonder what the Republicans will do with this issue."

In other words -- they're not really arguing that Hillary should be president because Barack Obama got a $200 donation from and once served on the board of a poverty group with an ex-radical college professor who was never convicted of anything, they're just worried that the Republicans will argue that! They just want to protect theparty!

Today's entry from the Clinton camp seems to be a picture of Obama dressed in African garb (above left) that has surfaced on the Drudge Report, which he got from someone in the Clinton camp, he says. The picture was taken during an official visit to Kenya, when villagers asked him to don the regalia.

"Wouldn't we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were HRC?" asked one Clinton staffer in an e-mail, according to Drudge.

Presumably, if the Clinton camp is indeed responsible for passing it around, they'll also argue that it's not that Hillary should be elected because Obama once looked dumb in a photo -- they'll argue that the Republicans might argue that.

Obama's campaign has issued a statement denouncing distribution of the photo -- which, it should be noted, has been attributed to Clinton only by the not always reliable Drudge:

“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 camp doesn't deny distributing it, but blames Obama for getting mad, per campaign manager Maggie Williams:

“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. 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.”

As she points out, native garb pix are fairly commonplace. A couple others are provided above.