Samantha Power Apologizes; UPDATE: Falls on Sword
Susan Rice isn’t the only Obama adviser with verbal problems. Samantha Power, a foreign policy wonk, apologized for calling Sen. Clinton a “monster:”
An adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was quoted Friday as telling a Scottish newspaper that rival Hillary Rodham Clinton is “a monster,” in remarks she later attempted to retract.
Samantha Power, a foreign policy adviser to Obama’s presidential campaign and Pulitzer Prize winner, was quoted as saying in The Scotsman newspaper that Clinton was stooping to low tactics to recover ground in the race to win the party’s presidential nomination.
The Harvard professor is quoted as telling the newspaper Obama’s team had been disappointed with Clinton’s campaign win in Ohio on Tuesday.
“In Ohio, they are obsessed and Hillary is going to town on it, because she knows Ohio’s the only place they can win,” Power is quoted as saying. “She is a monster, too — that is off the record — she is stooping to anything.”
What’s fun about this never-ending Democratic primary is both campaigns are stressed to the max. Plenty of mistakes will be made, and I’ll get to enjoy watching them.
“Obama Adviser Sorry for ‘Monster’ Remark” [via Flap]
UPDATE: James Joyner writes,
I’m always dubious about these denials; of course the comments reflected Power’s feelings about Clinton. Whether they reflect her considered judgment is another matter.
These gaffes happen over a long campaign and, certainly, Obama can’t be held responsible for every frustrated remark even close advisers make to the press. Nor should he be expected to fire everyone who says something regrettable.
That said, it further exposes the vulnerability Charles Krauthammer points to in his latest column.
UPDATE: Samantha Power quit. That was a surprise, but understandable after a few Congressmen demanded her resignation. If the Democratic nomination comes down to superdelegates each one of them will deserve extra-special care.
