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Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper

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Obama's Staff

June 18, 2007 5:23 PM

For my part, let me just say that I like the presidential campaign staff of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois.

Obama_blog

They generally seem very nice and helpful, smart and professional.

I say this because they may be a bit beleaguered right now, having been trashed once again…by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois.

In his first public comments about the controversial opposition research his campaign prepared about Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, trying to tie her to outsourcing in India, Obama today blamed -- for the third time in 5 months -- his staff.

"It was a screw-up on the part of our research team," Obama told the Des Moines Register (LINK). "It wasn't anything I had seen or my senior staff had seen."

The document in question linked Clinton and her husband to various companies that outsource American jobs to India, and included a headline that referred to Clinton as the Democratic senator from Punjab, a reference to a joke Clinton had made at a fundraiser.

The Obama campaign provided it to a reporter on a not-for-attribution basis, and the reporter shared it with the Clinton campaign, which shared it with the world.

Over at the website of South Asians for Obama 2008, one writer wrote (LINK) that the memo, "(a)lthough intended to draw attention to Senator Clinton's hypocritical position on outsourcing, the memo was laced with criticism of Senator Clinton's longstanding support among the Indian American community. In addition to being offended by the clear anti-Indian sentiment in the memo, we were particularly disturbed because the memo flies in the face of what we respect most about Senator Obama -- his inclusive message and his ability to relate to people of all backgrounds."

Said Obama today, "I thought it was stupid and caustic and not only didn't reflect my view of the complicated issue of outsourcing ... it also didn't reflect the fact that I have longstanding support and friendships within the Indian-American community."

He added that he takes "responsibility for it, as does our campaign. and we quickly apologized and are communicating that in various circles around the country."

Obama has blamed his staffers for other campaign mishaps.

In February, after Obama contributor David Geffen slammed Bill and Hillary Clinton in Maureen Down's New York Times column, the Clinton campaign demanded that Obama return money Geffen had raised for them. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said "We aren’t going to get in the middle of a disagreement between the Clintons and someone who was once one of their biggest supporters. It is ironic that the Clintons had no problem with David Geffen when was raising them $18 million and sleeping at their invitation in the Lincoln bedroom." (LINK)

Obama later distanced himself from that comment, telling reporters he had been flying from Los Angeles to Iowa during the whole dustup and that, "I told my staff that I don’t want us to be a party to these kinds of distractions because I want to make sure that we’re spending time talking about issues. My preference going forward is that we have to be careful not to slip into playing the game as it customarily is played.”

In May, Obama blamed staffers for his missing an event with firefighters in New Hampshire. "I have to tell you, I wish I was there," Obama said over a speakerphone. "My staff had already scheduled some things and they couldn't wiggle out if it. They heard from me a little bit because I wasn't happy I couldn't be there personally." (LINK)

Boy, it must be tough to be so continually disappointed with your staff.

Not to mention to have a campaign you have so little control over!

-- jpt

June 18, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (10)

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If he can't control his own staff and provide them strong leadership, how does he expect to led the executive branch? And shouldn't it be 4 times now that his emissaries have stepped out of line? What about the 1984 video? Doesn't make Obama look like he's against negative campaigning.

Posted by: Anita | Jun 22, 2007 3:24:10 PM

Proves again how inexperienced he is in the big leagues.

Posted by: Patriot 2007 | Jun 19, 2007 12:13:28 PM

Might be time for a new staff, ya think?

Ron

Posted by: Ron | Jun 19, 2007 11:08:29 AM

I don't know, Jake. I've heard some things David Westin's said about his staff.... ;-)

As criticisms of staff go, Obama's haven't been all that harsh - this one was about style, not substance. Is outsourcing important? Yes. Is sarcasm appropriate in discussing it? No.

My all-time favorite criticism of staff was from John Moody, a senior vice president at Fox News, about some of his "pundits": "The hosts violated one of our general rules, which is know what you are talking about," Moody said.

Not THAT'S a criticsm of staff! :-)

Posted by: Tom J | Jun 19, 2007 10:43:04 AM

Interesting post. However, Tapper's closing remarks are dopey and neither funny nor clever. Tapper, you're a tool! How did you ever get a job at ABC?

Posted by: Andrew | Jun 19, 2007 9:12:35 AM

It doesn't say much for Sen. Obama if he can't or won't coordinate enough with his campaign officials so that such mixed messages won't occur. It may be that he blames his campaign staff for issuing statements he later thinks better of, or he may just be trying to "test the waters" when his staff issues some statement he later recants. Either way, though, it shows some degree of mismanagement and lack of coordination more befitting a newcomer than a political sage.

Posted by: chuck | Jun 19, 2007 8:43:40 AM

That's weak. Fair criticism, Jake. I'm less bothered by his deflecting blame, and more bothered by his apparent lack of organization, control and/or attention to detail. I'm starting to get jittery about Obama. If this is the way he runs a campaign, how is he going to run the country?

Posted by: cordelia525 | Jun 18, 2007 9:06:02 PM

Hey Jake,
David Geffen is not a member
of Obama's staff. Very poor extrapalation.But maybe your
staff wrote that part...Smokey

Posted by: Smokey from Mt. Pleasant, S.C. | Jun 18, 2007 8:32:55 PM

Of course Hillary waited until Obama
voted on War funding. Like Edwards
says, staying in the shadows is not leadership...Smokey

Posted by: Smokey from Mt. Pleasant, S.C. | Jun 18, 2007 8:24:56 PM

I think Obama was right to trash them, but I also think he needs to get better control of them. He obviously can't check everything they say and write, but he can make sure they have a clear understanding of what he expects of them and what they shouldn't be doing. It doesn't look like he's done that. Too often, it seems like they're speaking for themselves rather than for Obama.

Posted by: Mike | Jun 18, 2007 6:44:48 PM

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