What is it about race that leaves normally loquacious politicians saying things that just aren't very smart?
First, we had Geraldine Ferraro, then a Clinton campaign surrogate, musing on how Barack Obama was so "very lucky" to be a black man running for president in America. She's no longer with the Clinton campaign.
Now, it's Claire McCaskill's turn. The Missouri senator, who's appeared in a national TV ad for Barack Obama, said of Obama in Thursday's Kansas City Star: "He, for the first time, I think, as a black leader in America, has come to the American people not as a victim, but rather as a leader."
Those familiar with the life and works of Frederick Douglass, Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King Jr. and Macolm X, to name a but a few, may differ with McCaskill.
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt distanced the campaign from McCaskill's miscue: "Obama has said repeatedly he has deep and abiding respect for the many leaders who came before him and upon whose shoulders he stands."
UPDATE: McCaskill spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh weighs in with a prepared statement:
"This is a classic case where Claire simply misspoke. She's sorry it came out wrong. In her enthusiasm to applaud Barack Obama, it appeared that she was trying to diminish other black leaders. That was not her intention. Claire was electrically charged by Senator Obama's extremely candid speech about race in America. It was her intention to applaud Senator Obama, as a black politician with so much at stake, for being as honest as he was about such a controversial topic. She was particularly impressed that, while he recognized it, he did not dwell on those who felt like victims, but rather approached the discussion as a leader who was interested in moving our country forward".
