A few weeks ago when I interviewed the mayor of Akron Ohio, Donald Plusquellic (who has openly endorsed Hillary in her bid for president), for an article about negativity in Clinton’s campaign he made an offhanded comment that seemed like a fluke. Therefore I decided not to include it in the article when he mentioned that Hillary was unable to point out certain negative aspects of Obama that were truthful because of his race.

It didn’t even seem worth mentioning because it had nothing to do with the topic of the article. However, later in the week while I was speaking with Denison University Professor of Public Policy, Emmett Buell, I was struck by a statement he made about Obama.

“He’s black and that circumvents what she can do,” Buell said. “That’s what she’s up against.”

At that point it seemed there was an emerging trend. Particularly because I hadn’t asked either of them about race issues at all—they both mentioned it on their own. My questions were specifically related to what effects they felt negative campaigns in their state had on voters.

Mulling this over since then it’s been difficult to decide whether or not two random people’s comments are worth speculating about. That was until this morning when I read this headline off of Yahoo!

Obama fury over Clinton backer Ferraro’s race remark

“Barack Obama’s White House campaign lashed out in fury Tuesday after a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter attributed his stunning march through US politics to his race.

Obama aide Susan Rice called for Clinton to fire Geraldine Ferraro, the only woman yet to run on a major party’s presidential ticket, after her comments Friday to a Los Angeles newspaper.”

Those Ohio interviews came to mind.

I had assumed that while those remarks (and Ferraro’s) seemed a bit out of place, and not necessarily based on reality (or at least not one that I’m a part of) they were just par for the course in that camp. Of course Clinton supporters are going to blame race, just as Obama supporters will naturally attack gender. It’s far easier and more human than admitting that you support a candidate that is less worthy, or, even worse, down in the polls.

But now there’s talk of someone’s resignation. I have to wonder if that isn’t going in the wrong direction with trying to resolve the issue. It’s true that when Samantha Power, who was a foreign policy aide for Obama, called Hillary a monster she was sacked, but it seems to be just a strategy.

Let someone dispensable say what you wish you could, and then condemn their actions, and then fire them. And then the slander is front page on CNN and your hands are clean.