Obama again blames staff for miscues

[robcon]

"Despite often-lofty rhetoric that he plans to bring the nation a "new kind of politics," Sen. Barack Obama has surrounded himself with operatives skilled in the old-school art of the political back stab.

Yet when Obama was criticized this week for opposition research memos critical of Sen. Hillary Clinton's ties to India and Indian-Americans, he was quick to blame his staff.

"It was a screw-up on the part of our research team," he told editors and reporters with The Des Moines Register. "It wasn't anything I had seen or my senior staff had seen."

That is starting to sound familiar. It was at least the third time since February the Illinois Democrat has blamed his staff for a glitch.

When Obama assembled his crew early this year, he brought together a team with a long track record for the sort of caustic rhetoric he has pledged to avoid, just as other presidential candidates have done by hiring people similarly talented in the art of opposition research and attack. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) even hired some of the very people that trashed his 2000 presidential bid.

From his campaign headquarters on the 11th floor of a high-rise on Michigan Avenue, Obama's political warriors range from a research director with extensive experience in throwing darts from Democratic National Committee's offices to a communications director who once worked for a group that ran a controversial ad that used an image of Osama bin Laden to attack Howard Dean..."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama_frijun22,1,7722116.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true

[Bitwit1234]

1. People on this list were making fun of Hillary

for choosing a campaign song....haven't heard a word about Obama setting up ring tones where he plugs his campaign...golly what a difference.

[ellisonz]

2. Not really.

The ringtones is just creative campaigning. People are "making fun of Hillary for choosing a campaign song" because it's Celine Dion and not only that it was written for Air Canada as a marketing jingle. You don't approve of Barack Obama, OK.

:thumbsdown:

[PurityOfEssence]

8. Don't worry, you will

Did you see "The Daily Show" last night? They milked it to no end.

If Hillary's getting more flak than others, it's not surprising; she's the front-runner, and they traditionally get more heat.

You'll also find more savaging of her on this board than you will of Obama simply because she's been on record for some things people around here really don't like, whereas he's more of an unknown quantity. To balance this, she's probably got more defenders. She takes her hits for being deceptive and bought-off, whereas he takes his for being green, sloppy and disingenuous. (Of course, these are broad-strokes characterizations, but I think they're a pretty good overview.)

All-in-all, I don't think any of the top three are being unduly persecuted on this board; they all have their rooters and their nemeses and it all seems pretty much evenly annoying on both counts for each of them. Being part of the problem, I'll sign off now so I can focus on being troublesome on some other thread.

[draft_mario_cuomo]

10. HRC has more defenders, Obama has more "defenders"

HRC supporters like Tellurian, SaveElmer, ElizabethDC, et al. will respond to the criticisms of HRC. Obama has far more "defenders" at DU (he has about 1/4 support at DU while HRC is in the single digits) but they merely make schoolyard taunts of the person making the criticism. Rarely will you see them dispute the actual points, like HRC's small band of real, effective defenders.

[Connie_Corleone]

3. I'm an Obama supporter, but I will say he has to stop blaming his staff.

He does say he takes responsibility because it's his campaign, but at some point, he's got to stop saying it was this staff member or it was my research team. Just say we screwed up and apologize. Chew out your staff in private.

[Punkingal]

5. Exactly!

He has to take responsibility himself.

[Kingstree]

4. I am behind him. He will do well.

[Captain Hilts]

6. That's how the game is played, so he should NOT blame staff for doing their jobs...nt

[draft_mario_cuomo]

7. If he can't control campaign staff how can he run a $3 trillion government? nt

[riqster]

9. The buck stops with the boss