A high-profile Hillary Clinton supporter quit the former first lady's campaign Wednesday after remarks about Democratic rival Barack Obama drew accusations of racism.

Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, resigned from her honorary post after telling a Torrance, Calif., newspaper on Tuesday that Obama's success is due to his colour.

Former Democratic vice-presidential nominee Geraldine Ferarro, shown in 2001, has been under fire for controversial comments including: 'If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position.'
(Dennis Cook/ Associated Press)

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she said. "And if he was a woman [of any color], he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

The national media picked up the interview, sparking controversy and debate across the country. 

In a letter to Clinton, Ferraro said Obama's campaign is attacking her to damage Clinton and that she would step down from the campaign finance committee to prevent that from happening.

Clinton distanced herself from the comments during a meeting of black newspaper publishers in Washington on Wednesday.

"I said yesterday that I rejected what she said and I certainly do repudiate it," Clinton said. "Obviously, she doesn't speak for the campaign, she doesn't speak for any of my positions and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee."

Obama denounced the comments as "ridiculous" and "wrong-headed," but added he didn't believe they were intended to be racist.

"I think that her comments were ridiculous. I think they were wrong-headed," Obama told a news conference Wednesday. "The notion that it is of great advantage to me to be an African-American named Barack Obama and pursue the presidency, I think, is not a view that has been commonly shared by the general public.

"I'm always hesitant to throw around words like racist because I don't think she intended them that way."

Ferraro defends herself

Ferraro defended her comments on a series of television appearances Wednesday, saying Obama's campaign is trying to "spin" the comments as racist.

"For his campaign to take that and spin it and attack Hillary and me as being racist, I tell you, it is just appalling," Ferraro told CBS's The Early Show.

She told NBC Nightly News the Obama campaign should apologize to her for calling her a racist.

Earlier this week, a senior adviser to the Obama campaign resigned after calling Clinton a "monster." Harvard Prof. Samantha Power told the Scotsman newspaper her comments were off the record.

With files from the Associated Press