This is just too weird: Obama's "flip" response to Clinton

How weird is this:

Just when you thought the Democratic race couldn’t get uglier, Barack Obama is being accused of giving Hillary Clinton the finger at a town hall meeting in North Carolina.

The gesture — which may have been an innocent scratch of the face or, according to some, something more mischievous — came as Obama was complaining Thursday about the debate in Philadelphia the night before.

Bloggers were quick to note that as the Illinois senator scolded his Democratic rival for her performance at the debate, he raised his right hand and scratched his cheek with one finger. That finger.

“This is one of those political moments that really needs few words,” wrote the Los Angeles Times in a blog. “He’ll no doubt deny it later, but that mischievous smile seems to confirm plenty. And the crowd sure sees something.” . . .

The Huffington Post says that it is just a serious of small mistakes that falsely created this impression:

Unfortunately, the middle finger scratch came at the instant he was laying some leather to Hillary. No Ouija Board needed to predict the rest. The itch, the scratch, the middle finger and the Hillary knock in the world of minutiae punditry added up to one thing. Obama flipped her off. You Tube ran it incessantly, and respected pundits, jumped into the fray quickly. Obama committed the ultimate in a crude, no-class vulgarity. Mercifully, Team Obama, had the good grace, and sense, not to bother dignifying this inanity. No matter two days later, the blog tongues were still wagging furiously did he or didn't he on it. . . .

When you have the LA Times seemingly taking this seriously, it could cause problems for Obama.

Ed Morrissey writes on it here and provides video.

Who knows what was meant if anything here. I just don't think that there is much of a return to discussing it.

UPDATE: Well, I watched the video and it is depressing. What is bizarre about all this is that the crowd reacted to Obama when he put up his middle finger while talking about Clinton. Even more bizarre is that Obama smiled when the crowd reacted. I wanted to believe that this wasn't the case, but the video sure looks damming.