Obama knows that this racist schtick is wearing thin. It is smart for him to disagree with his surrogates in public, especially incompetent failures like Jimmy Carter that don't know when to shut up. Disagreeing allows him to distance himself from his deeply held beliefs. He uses this tactic all of the time. For instance, with healthcare reform he lets his surrogates write and promote the legislation that he privately insists must have a "public option". Meanwhile in public he downplays it's significance and pretends "it is not a deal breaker". This is a tactic, noting more....