Samantha Power blurts out something not entirely unreasonable that she meant to be off the record. Now the Clintonites, in yet another cynical burst of manufactured outrage, say Obama has to fire her. How interesting.

The picture you see beside this post is a comparison between an ad that Hillary Clinton's people made and an image of Obama from a televised debate. Whoever cut that ad for her doctored the picture so Obama looks darker. Let's not be euphemistic: the only rationale for doing that is to exploit racism. Matt noted on Tuesday that those for whom race is an important factor in this election vote for Clinton. Gee, why might that be?

I'm white. I can't pretend to know what it's like to see this kind of racism exploited so cynically and so casually. But here's what it's like. Read every word:

My people did not build this country with their backs spilling blood, did not have their families systematically destroyed, their language stamped out, their identities stolen en masse so that I might be here today and vote out of fear. ...

You think we're in for hard times if we don't support Hillary? You don't know hard times.

The media seem to have decided Clinton does not need to explain this ad. They seem to have concluded she doesn't need to answer for it. They seem to have concluded that it would be untoward for the black candidate to complain that the blonde lady exploited white racism. Do you think that might have something to do with the fact that white people run the media?

Samantha Power used a word carelessly in what she thought was an off-the-record setting. Mark Penn, or whoever created that ad, very deliberately sent a message that Obama's race is a reason to fear him, to shun him, to never, ever vote for him. Congratulations, Clintonites: you are now part of the problem in America. Samantha Power should resign? Whoever created that ad should resign, and the fact that Hillary Clinton not only approved that ad but hasn't demanded any resignations tells you everything you need to know about her.

Update: And so she resigns. If the Clinton campaign were held to the standards it cynically demanded of the Obama campaign, would it even have interns left?