Confusion in Obama Talking Point Ranks

Today, Barack's Chief Strategist, David Axelrod, is conceding that, yes, there was a racial element to Barack's remarks about not looking like other presidents on the dollar bill (or like Ambassadors to France or Treasury Secretaries, apparently).

Yesterday, his chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said flatly, "It is not about race."

So which is it? And are campaign officials simply unaware of what their fellows are saying, or did the campaign realize that the effort to defend Obama's remarks as non-racial was simply a non-starter?