A PICTURE of Barack Obama dressed in Somali garb has sparked a war of words between the Democratic presidential front-runner and Hillary Clinton.
The photograph shows the Illinois senator outfitted as a Somali elder during his 2006 visit to northeastern Kenya, part of a five-country tour of Africa.
It appeared at the top of Monday's Drudge Report, and was said to have been provided by Clinton staffers over the weekend.
Now both campaigns are suggesting that the other should feel some sort of shame over the flap. According to Obama aides, the Clinton campaign is sinking to shameful fear-mongering.
Clinton's campaign chief retorted that she can't figure out why Obama would be ashamed of having the photo out in the public.
While the source of the photo is unverified, Drudge claims it was sent to the site by a Clinton aide, who argued that had it been a costumed Clinton, it would have made the front pages.
"Wouldn't we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were Clinton?" wrote the unnamed Clinton campaign staffer, according to the Drudge Report.
Expressing outrage, Obama's campaign suggested the purpose of the photo release was to invoke reminders of persistent rumors that Obama is secretly Muslim, and by extension, anti-American.
"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," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said.
"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," Plouffe continued.
A longtime member of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama, who as a child lived for four years in Indonesia, has repeatedly denied that he is Muslim.
Previous attacks have been decried by both candidates, and one Clinton campaign volunteer was asked to step down after forwarding an e-mail spreading the Muslim rumor.
But seeing an opportunity to refute the Obama camps outrage, Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams turned the perceived prejudice on its head.
"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," she said in a statement.
"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."
Indeed, the New York senator, her husband, Bill Clinton, and other past presidents have all been photographed in traditional costume while visiting nations abroad.
Speaking on a conference call, Obama advisers rejected the suggestion that the candidate is shamed by the photo, but likened the incident to receipt of an unwanted Christmas present.