Barack Obama on Tuesday lashed out at Geraldine Ferraro, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter who says Obama has been helped politically by his race. The former Democratic vice presidential candidate responded that she stands by her remarks.

Ferraro first made the controversial remarks to the Los Angeles-area newspaper The Daily Breeze last week, saying Obama would not be enjoying such positive media attention if he were white.

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” Ferraro said during an assessment of Obama’s treatment by the press that she attributes to an infatuation with the racial implications of his candidacy.

“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.”

Ferraro added that Clinton has suffered from a “sexist media.”

Obama labeled the comments as “patently absurd” after his campaign demanded Ferraro leave her post on Clinton’s finance committee. The Democratic presidential candidate told the Allentown Morning Call Tuesday: “I don’t think that Geraldine Ferraro’s comments have any place in our politics or the Democratic Party. … I think they were divisive.”

He added: “I think that anybody who understands the history of this country knows they are patently absurd. I would expect that the same way those comments don’t have a place in my campaign, they shouldn’t have a place in Senator Clinton’s.”

Ferraro told FOX News Tuesday that she’s “sorry that people thought it was racist.” But she quickly turned the tables on Obama, claiming his supporters are too eager to cry race when faced with criticism.

“What I find is offensive is every time anybody says something about the campaign, you’re accused of being racist,” she said.

She then told The Daily Breeze on Tuesday: “Racism works in two different directions. I really think they’re attacking me because I’m white. How’s that?”

Clinton said in Pennsylvania Tuesday that she doesn’t agree with Ferraro’s remarks, but did not say anything about removing her from the campaign.

“I think it’s important we stay focused on the issues that matter to the American people. Both of us have had supporters and staff that have gone over the line and we’ve both had to rein them in,” she said.

The Clinton campaign also released a statement accusing Obama of trying to renege on an apparent pledge to leave the race issue alone.

“We reject these false, personal and politically calculated attacks on the eve of a primary,” said campaign manager Maggie Williams.

Voters headed to the polls in the Mississippi on Tuesday. The state offers 33 pledged delegates and the largest black electorate of any state. Polls there consistently favor the Illinois senator.

The race comments set off a back-and-forth similar to the one the campaigns shared last week, when former foreign policy adviser Samantha Power left the Obama campaign after calling Clinton a “monster” in an interview with a Scottish newspaper.

Obama chief strategist David Axelrod suggested the emphasis on race is part of an underlying effort that has continued for months. He noted other allegedly insensitive comments by Clinton supporters BET founder Bob Johnson and New Hampshire co-chairman Bill Shaheen.

“All this is part of an insidious pattern that needs to be addressed,” Axelrod told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. “When you wink and nod at offensive statements, you’re really sending a signal to your supporters that anything goes.”

Axelrod said the Obama camp has been “very firm” in dealing with such wayward comments — a reference to the campaign’s handling of Power’s remarks. He said Ferraro should be removed from her campaign positions.

Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky said that Clinton should call on her advisers to “change the tone” of the campaign.

“Any and all remarks that diminish Senator Obama’s candidacy because of his race are completely out of line,” she said. “We need to stop tearing each other down with personal attacks and focus on defeating Senator McCain in November.”

The issue of Obama’s race surfaces periodically, often when a southern state, rich in black voters, is on the line. Bill Clinton raised it in South Carolina, which went heavily for Obama with the help of black voters. Clinton suggested Obama only won because of his race by raising the point that Jesse Jackson also won there when he ran for president.

Click here to read the Ferraro interview in The Daily Breeze.

Click here to read Obama’s comments to the Morning Call.

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