Obama Backs Clinton's Criticism of GOP
Clinton, D-N.Y., a potential presidential candidate for 2008, did not retreat from the ''plantation'' remark, telling reporters the term accurately describes the ''top-down'' way the GOP runs Congress.
First lady Laura Bush, en route home from a visit to West Africa, criticized Clinton.
''It think it's ridiculous -- it's a ridiculous comment,'' Mrs. Bush told reporters when asked about the senator's remark.
Clinton, who is seeking re-election this year, said during a Martin Luther King Day event in Harlem this week that the House ''has been run like a plantation,'' in that ''nobody with a contrary view has had a chance to present legislation, to make an argument, to be heard.''