Bill Clinton says he was ‘race card’ victim

PITTSBURGH — Former President Clinton’s stumbles on the campaign trail have sometimes put the focus more on himself than on his wife.

On Monday, he accused the Barack Obama campaign of playing “the race card” on him after the South Carolina primary, a charge that drew a rebuke from Obama.

Clinton told a Philadelphia radio station that his comments were “twisted” after he likened Obama’s primary victory in the state to Jesse Jackson’s.

Clinton was asked if he regretted the comparison after a Pennsylvania official said she thought he was marginalizing Obama as “the black candidate.”

“No, I think that they played the race card on me,” he said. “We now know from memos from the campaign and everything that they planned to do it all along.”

Obama scoffed at Clinton’s remarks.

“Hold on a second: So former President Clinton dismissed my victory in South Carolina as being similar to Jesse Jackson, and he’s suggesting that somehow I had something to do with it?” Obama asked reporters at a Pittsburgh diner Monday. “OK, well, you better ask him what he meant by that.”

On Tuesday, the former president brushed off a reporter’s questions about his race comment. “I said what I said,” Clinton said. “You always follow me around and play these little games, and I’m not going to play your games today. This is a day about election day.”

Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that she had no comment on the matter, saying she wanted to focus on “what voters are focused on.”