GOP race 'a clown show,' says Obama aide

The campaign for the Republican presidential nomination at times resembles "a circus show, a clown show," President Barack Obama's senior adviser said Sunday.

David Plouffe was responding to criticism by Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum of Obama's comments on the racially charged case of Trayvon Martin, the black teenager allegedly killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida. Santorum accused Obama of "politicizing" the case; Gingrich said Obama is "dividing this country up."

Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Plouffe said: "I don't think there's very many people in America that would share that reaction. You know, this Republican primary at some points has been more of a circus show, a clown show. And those two comments are really irresponsible. I would consider them reprehensible."

Of Gingrich specifically, Plouffe said on ABC's "This Week": "Speaker Gingrich is clearly in the final throes of his political career."

On Friday, in response to a question at the end of a Rose Garden event, Obama said the fatal shooting of Martin struck a personal chord -- "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon" -- and he called for a full investigation by federal, state and local authorities.

Gingrich, speaking later that day on Sean Hannity's radio show, said: "What the president said, in a sense, is disgraceful. Is the president suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot, that would be OK because he wouldn't look like him? It's just nonsense, dividing this country up."

Santorum said on Hugh Hewitt's radio show: "This is, again, not what the presidents of the United States do. What the president of the United States should do is try to bring people together, not use these types of horrible tragic individual cases to try to drive a wedge in America."

The Justice Department has opened a civil rights probe into the Feb. 26 slaying of Martin, 17, in Sanford, Fla. The neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, has told police that he shot Martin in self-defense.