Sweet column: Obama, "black enough, I guarantee you."

WASHINGTON — At two forums on Tuesday — sponsored by AFSCME and the progressive Campaign for America’s Future — Democratic White House rivals drew distinctions between their anti-Iraq war positions.

In a slap at Senate rivals, who just voted on a war funding bill, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said, “Too often we’re looking at funding resolutions. Too often we’re looking at timetables. What I would urge the Congress to do is press ahead with a major initiative to deauthorize the war.”

Also at the forums:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) avoided answering whether former vice presidential chief of staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby should be pardoned. Former President Bill Clinton was criticized for last-minute pardons he gave.

At the union gathering, Clinton distanced herself from a signature accomplishment of President Clinton’s first term, the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. “I think that like anything, NAFTA had some positive, but unfortunately, it had a lot of down side, and we know that.”

Sen. Barack Obama, essentially asked if he was a centrist or more in the tradition of liberal Hubert Humphrey, said, “I love Hubert Humphrey, but he didn’t win the presidency, so I’m not going to be like that.”

Civil rights leader Roger Wilkins — whose wife is an Obama staffer –said while introducing Obama at the progressive event, “This man is black enough, I guarantee you.”