Obama says Clinton ad "straight out of the Republican playbook"

The Illinois senator goes after his opponent, and considers her campaign's culpability in a recent controversy.

Published March 11, 2008 2:24PM (EDT)

Speaking in Mississippi Monday, Barack Obama made some particularly direct criticisms of his rival, Hillary Clinton.

"When in the midst of a campaign you decide to throw the kitchen sink at your opponent because you're behind," Obama 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 3 in the morning, an ad straight out of the Republican playbook, that's not real change."

The photo reference Obama made was, of course, a reference to a Drudge Report story that staffers in Clinton's campaign were circulating a photo of Obama dressed in native Somali clothing. ABC News' Jake Tapper -- a former Salon reporter -- notes on his blog that at a Feb. 26 debate, Obama had said, "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."


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

MORE FROM Alex Koppelman


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