Obama decries 'forces of division' in Democratic campaign
In Indiana, the Illinois senator addresses the recent war of words without naming names. Clinton takes on Bush's economic stance in delegate-heavy Pennsylvania.
WASHINGTON — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama today lamented the rhetorical skirmishes that have recently turned the Democratic presidential campaign into a contest over race and gender.
"The forces of division have started to raise their ugly heads again," he said at a town hall meeting in a high school in Plainfield, Ind.
Obama did not mention by name his rival, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, or the recent string of barbs traded between the two campaigns. "I'm not here to cast blame or point fingers," he said.
In the last week alone, Obama distanced himself from his longtime pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright for saying Clinton, being a woman of privilege in a country run by whites, could never understand blacks. During the same week, Clinton accepted the resignation of former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York after saying that she believed Obama would never had gotten this far in the presidential race if he had not been African American.
"We've got a tragic history when it comes to race in this country," he said, noting "pent-up anger and mistrust and bitterness." But, he added, "I continue to believe that this country wants to move beyond these kinds of things."
Noting his own ethnic background -- his mother was a white Kansan, his father a black Kenyan -- Obama said: "As somebody who was born into a diverse family, as somebody who has little pieces of America all in me, I will not allow us to lose this moment." As the crowd came to its feet shouting, "Yes we can, yes we can," Obama said that it was important to speak up against inflammatory words like those of his former pastor, but equally important to come together.
"It is within our power to join together, to truly make a United States of America," he said. "That's the only way that we're going to deliver on the big issues we're facing in this country. We cannot solve healthcare divided. We cannot create an economy that works for everybody divided. We cannot fight terrorism divided. We cannot care for our veterans divided. We have to come together."
Clinton meanwhile spent the day campaigning in delegate-rich Pennsylvania -- which holds its primary April 22 - marching in St. Patrick's Day parades in Pittsburgh and Scranton. In Pittsburgh, she marched for two miles on streets lined with voters, some bearing signs that said "Clinton Country," others saying "O'Bama."
