Top Obama Adviser: Hillary Must Remove Ferraro From Campaign
A few days after the Hillary campaign successfully claimed Samantha Power's scalp, the Obama campaign is out to force the Hillary camp to dump one of its own: Geraldine Ferraro.
On a conference call with reporters just now, top Obama adviser David Axelrod called on the Hillary camp to remove Ferraro from her position as major fundraiser for the campaign. Ferraro got in trouble when the news broke yesterday that she had suggested that Obama's race was responsible for his campaign's success...
"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she continued. "And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."
Axelrod, on the call, said of Ferraro: "She ought to be removed...there's no other way to send a serious sign that you want to change the tone of the campaign." He added that the remark was part of an "insidious pattern."
It's unclear exactly what Ferraro's role is. She's merely identified on the campaign's Web site as a "Hillraiser," which is to say a major fundraiser with an unofficial role. But she described herself as a member of the campaign's finance committee.
One interesting thing from the call: Obama's female surrogate on the call, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, was generally critical of such negative attacks, saying that "all remarks that diminish Senator Obama’s candidacy because of his race are completely out of line," but she stopped well short of demanding that Ferraro be removed.
We'll bring you the Hillary camp's response as soon as we get it.
Late Update: MSNBC reports that Hillary was asked about Ferraro's comments. "I do not agree with that. It is regrettable that any of our supporters on both sides, because we've both had that experience, say things that kind of veer off into the personal," Hillary said.
"We ought to keep this on the issues. There are differences between us. There are differences between our approaches on health care, on energy, on our experience, on our results that we've produced for people. That's what this campaign should be about."
It's unclear whether she was asked about Axelrod's demand that Ferraro be removed from the campaign.
Late Update: The Hillary campaign is now claiming that the Obama campaign played the race card here.
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