In yet another page taken directly from the Ann Coulter political playbook, the presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton has taken another fear-mongering and xenophobic potshot at the presumptive Democratic presidential frontrunner, Senator Barack Obama. From conspiracy theories about Obama being a ‘secret Muslim’ to the consistent (if not deliberate) Obama/Osama name-game, the current bizarre demagoguery by the Clinton camp shows that her campaign and its surrogates are continuing to make use of popular prejudices and xenophobic innuendo to pander to voters’ ethnic biases in order to continue to score cheap political points.

The most recent Hillary ‘Macaca’ moment revolved around a picture released by the Clinton camp of Senator Obama dressed in the same white garb as some Somali Muslim tribal elders on a 2006 visit to Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya. Instead of releasing a picture of Barack in an African dashiki or other colorful tribal garb, Hillary’s gatekeepers sought it wise to leak the picture which has Senator Obama conveniently donning the same white Islamic garb that Osama bin Laden infamously pimps on our evening news broadcasts almost every night.

“On the very day that Senator Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign has engaged in the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we’ve seen from either party in this election. This is part of a disturbing pattern that led her county chairs to resign in Iowa, her campaign chairman to resign in New Hampshire, and it’s exactly the kind of divisive politics that turns away Americans of all parties and diminishes respect for America in the world," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe responding to the Hillary photograph leak.

Normally, we would usually chalk this news story up to being a knuckleheaded political ploy from the Iron Lady’s presidential camp. Unfortunately, this is not the only time that the Muslim Macaca has reared its ugly head in the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

In December 2007, former Democratic Senator Bob Kerrey, a Clinton surrogate from Nebraska and president of the New School in New York commented that, “It’s probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim. There’s a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal.”

According to the Chicago Tribune, Obama staffers and volunteers say they periodically encounter voters who say they cannot support Obama because they've heard he is secretly a Muslim, a frivolous claim that has been making its way through Internet sites and blogs since he announced his candidacy for president.

Shame on you, Hillary. 

As people of all colors continue to scratch their heads in disbelief over our own Democratic party stooping to Macaca-esque racist political tactics in the presidential primary campaign, it is becoming apparent to many Americans that Hillary is doing all the right-wing political dirty work for the infamous likes of Ann Coulter et al.

It seems that Hillary’s fear-mongering is paying political dividends. Ann Coulter recently told Sean Hannity on FOX News Channel that if John McCain is the Republican presidential nominee, “…she’s gonna be our girl, Sean…She’s more conservative than he is…”

When pressed on whether she would vote for Hillary over McCain, she responded with an enthusiastic, “…Yes, I will campaign for her if it’s McCain…”

As the timeless cliché goes: With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Arsalan Iftikhar is Contributing Editor for Islamica magazine in Washington D.C.