Barack Obama's campaign calls one-finger issue 'absurd and untrue'

A spokesman for the presidential campaign of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has criticized The Ticket for making a "false and childish accusation" in an item Thursday that the candidate's one-fingered gesture during a speech that day might have been the finger aimed at his Democratic Party opponent instead of an innocent finger aimed at brushing his cheek or scratching a scratch.

As displayed in a video clip, Obama was criticizing Washington for its gotcha politics in general and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton specifically as being "in her element" there. As he mentions her name, he brushes his cheek twice with the middle finger of his right hand.

Ticket readers were invited to make their own interpretations of the gesture. Thousands read the item and viewed the video and a frame from it. And numerous other blogs and websites discussed the matter in the past day.

More than 500 readers left comments, a majority strongly criticizing the blog for asking the question. Those comments are available at the bottom of the previous item.

In an e-mail this afternoon Ben LaBolt, an Obama campaign spokesman, agreed with those commentors and said, in total:

"This is outrageous. The Ticket should be embarrassed for making this
false and childish accusation. It's absurd and untrue."

Asked to elaborate, LaBolt said, "I think my comment covers it. There's nothing to explain."

A spokesman for the Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[ghost2]

The guideline to posting is a bit ironic:
"If you are under 13 years of age you may read this message board, but you may not participate. "

Under thirteen year olds are probably the best group to tell us exactly what this gesture means.

CBS has a much longer video on their site, and when you check the moment, the delibrate pause, the crowd reaction (behind him, watch one fan explain the gesture to the other), it is nearly impossible to think that this was not intentioal.

The whole routine is based on juvenile gestures. But media, as always, gives him the benefit of the doubt, as they did Bush. How did that work out??

Plus, there seems to be two videos in which the crowds are very different. But unless a larger camera angle is available, it is hard to say for sure whether those are distinct events.

[Tor]

Obama lies! He knows what he did. Anyone who's flipped off someone by coughing, scratching knows exactly what he did. That whole sequence not just the 30 second clip you see there, was a mockery towards hillary clinton.

Obama is a liar! Hypocrite! Please...you want change...stop being arrogant. Stop whining about getting owned by Hillary clinton and ABC in the debate.

You want to be a President? Grow up man. Be a man. Stop lying.

You lost my vote!

[Lilly]

Of course they would deny it, but if this was either McCain or Clinton they would be all over it. When I saw it I knew exactly what he was doing, but just for the sake of argument when my kids got home from school today, I showed the video to them without letting them see any of the headlines or writings about it. I asked them to watch it and tell me tell what they felt about what he was saying. When it got to the part in question, the first thing my son did was point to the video and say no way! did you see that, he just gave Hillary the finger, my other two also spotted it. I pretended to be shocked and asked where? They then pointed it out to me and when I asked are you sure that's what he's doing, they said "Oh c'mon mom, are you blind how could you miss that"

[Justin]

You got your response Andrew ... well done ... can we move on now?

[Rob]

OF COURSE he meant to give her the finger. And OF COURSE, Obama cultists rushed to his defense. Obama is a shameless manipulator and this Democrat will be campaigning hard for Senator McCain if Obama wins the Democratic nomination--and you can be sure I won't be alone.

[campskunk]

what a coward. he thugs it up in front of the home town crowd, and then says he was "inadvertently" making gestures which most people find deeply offensive. great. i guess he wants to be the first gangsta president.

[anna shane]

On Colbert last night it looked like the same kind of mean spirited attack. Both Hillary and John Edwards mocked themselves. Only Barack took the chance Stephen threw him to mock himself too, to mock Hillary. She'd done a routine in 'fixing' the monitor, and Stephen asked Barack if he thought Hillary was glad she'd fixed it for him. I felt slapped by his unseemly enjoyment of Hillary having fixed something that he was able to use. Of course her campaign is on fixing Bush's big mess, and if she can fix it for eight years, someone like Barack might indeed take advantage of her hard work. he had a chance to make fun of himself, but, no, he made fun of her. That made me realize that it's personal with him, he's not in this like she is, he's really angry with her, and it shows. He simply hasn't the demeanor to take on this job, especially since he thinks he doesn't need foreign policy advice. If he gets the nom and she works hard to get him elected, i think it will be a very strange presidency, although it can hardly be stranger than the last one.

[OxyCon]

Next, Obama's gang of paid liars will be telling us that Obama didn't make a stabbing motion with his hand and that he didn't reference Jay-z's song titled "Dirt Off Your Shoulder " when he made that gesture on his shoulders and that he didn't make the gesture where he was wiping the excrement off of his foot.
Google "Jay-Z dirt shoulder lyrics" and read those vile lyrics that Obama and his supporters think are so cool.
That gesture alone and it's dog whistle call to Jay-Z''s vile mouth are enough to disqualify Obama from the White House.
That man is dragging America down hard.

[Prabhu]

Andrew, you're grasping at straws and trying to create a story where there is none. I won't even point out the absurdities of your claim, many others have... You should be ashamed of yourself and you know it. Given your political background, you clearly have an ax to grind against Obama. Shame on you for denigrating the profession of journalism and using it as a political vehicle to engage in character assassination of the nastiest sort. I hope people see through your BS and that the LA Times has the sense to send you on your merry way to the retirement home. I will never read an article, book or blog entry written by you. Sir, you have no conscience or humility. What's even more sad is that I doubt you care.

[Steven Simmons]

I'm sure Senator Obama wasn't giving the finger to HIllary, but if he was, who could blame him?

[Robert]

Malcom,

For somebody your age you should ashamed to be involved in such trivial imbroglio. That`s what you teach your children, huh Dumbo? Do whatever it takes to get attention.
You guys went so low, no wonder you got sued by P.DIDDY.
OBVIOUSLY YOU DIDN`T LEARN THAT MUCH FROM YOUR IMMIGRANT PARENTS.

[Truth Seeker]

Of course this is a lie...what would you expect?

I have spent the better part of yesterday night emailing news organizations and DNC party leaders.

I also sent a message of outrage to Howard Dean at

http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/chairman

I let him know, in no uncertain terms, that I will not support this guy after his crude behavior. I urge all of you who care to do the same.

[Christoph]

I'm not a voter, full disclosure; I'm a Canuck.

That said, I have a set of eyes and ears and he looked awfully self-satisfied with his sly gesture. I think he knew what he was doing and giving the finger to a woman is pretty uncouth, I think.

Oh, I'm not one of Senator Clinton's defenders... I'm with McCain, to the degree which my opinion matters, which it doesn't. And I think tearing into her on any political or ethical matter is way cool in a campaign.

But the finger? Low class, Senator Obama.

[Caddycts]

If it was Clinton or Mccain a move like this would not have even been noticed. So what does it mean when he scratches his head?

[bearboy]

It is two fingers, you morons. I am still real ticked off about what you posted yesterday. Here is the photo: http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll11/moreperfectunion/TwoFingersABC.jpg

Next time, get your facts straight before you publish some right wing Hannity taliking point.

[Header]

Wow - seriously? This is an issue?

I guess I never would have known, if the PRESS THAT ROLLED OVER ON IRAQ hadn't let me know that Obama was flipping someone off... (Ahem - sorry for shouting.)

[Cindy]

To the best of my knowledge, there was only one speech given in Raleigh. When you compare the videos they are from different angles, which is why there appear to be different people in the audience. However, the audience reacted to what they saw, just as many internet viewers have-his supporters felt he was flipping the bird and he didn't correct them if they were wrong. Let's say for the sake of argument that it wasn't intentional, it shows that he's an amateur in the political arena. Such a gesture (intentional or unconscious) while president could cause an international incident if made in the wrong circumstances. Howard Dean howls and he's out of the running, and with this Obama has shown he still belongs in the "Not Ready For Primetime Players"....

[goldenstate]

After seeing Obama give Hillary "the finger", I won't be voting for him, if he becomes the nominee.

[Krishna]

Senator Obama is an arrogant liar. He does not deserve the Democratic Party’s nomination. He should apologize to all the women in the world for his indecent gesture.

[Girl with the bushy armpits]

I think Andrew Malcolm is a very perceptive and professional journalist .Perception seems flawed miserably in the Obama naive and gullible histerics posting
on this umptieth denial of yet another no brainer by the
endorsee of gov. Judas and that other nobody who
believes in a santa-Claus state and never met a taxe hike
he didnt fall in love with.Obama showed his lack of the
most elementary civility in such a hypocritical manner that
the most casual observer detected immediately.Only the
blind sycophants of moove on org were mystified and they are shooting the messenger, fooling only themselves

[Jason]

I know and everyone else knows good and well he was doing it and I also know as I'm sure everyone else does too, that had this been the other Candidates, the Obama Camp and Obamabots would be raising hell over this. Deny it all some of you may want, it's a fact.

[Tyron]

why do conservatives in American politics act all masculine and act like they are really badass.

eg( the republican talking point about about how poor people don't deserve welfare and are lazy.)

but when this finger incident came up conservatives where all offended and politically correct?

you cant have it both ways.

[Jason]

I know and everyone else knows good and well he was doing it and I also know as I'm sure everyone else does too, that had this been the other Candidates, the Obama Camp and Obamabots would be raising hell over this. Deny it all some of you may want, it's a fact.

[sandy]

I don't get it?? Is the big fuss that this article is making for real? Or is the author employing irony, a la Stephen Colbert, to make a point about the sad state of the corporate media. After watching that debacle of a debate I could appreciate a little biting irony that challenges us to reflect upon our absurdity. While I applaud the effort to make us ponder the depths to which we've sunk, I think you should go back to the drawing board because I almost though you were serious.

[bernadette bradley]

After the ABC debate, I told my son that American media had finally hit bottom, that it was simply not possible for them to be more idiotic or more craven in choosing the "issues that matter".
Clearly, I spoke too soon. The same gutless wonders who failed utterly to provide any sane reporting on the run-up to war, who continue to fail by neglecting to cover this administration's trashing of the constitution, have now discovered finger-gate.
I suppose it fits right in with the "McCain called his wife a c-word" stories, and the "Hillary said f-ing flag" stories, but can we please talk about something significant before this country falls apart?