http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/05/obamas-inabilit.html
Obama's Inability to Hire Good Help Rears Its Head =85 Again
May 12, 2008 12:28 PM
We started covering Sen. Barack Obama's inability to hire good
staffers in June 2007, when he blamed staffers for some opposition
research trying to link Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, to outsourcing in
India; for injecting some venom in the David Geffen/Hillary Clinton
fight; and for missing an event with firefighters in New Hamp****re.
In December, we noted again that Obama was blaming the answers on a
1996 questionnaire on a staffer; and was blaming his touring with
"cured" ex-gay gospel singer Donnie McClurkin (which antagonized gays
and lesbians) on bad vetting by his staff.
Those five buck-passing incidents were apparently not enough.
Yesterday, in an interesting New York Times look at Obama's rise in
Chicago politics, we learned that in 2004 some Jewish sup****ters
became alarmed to learn that in a questionnaire Obama refrained from
denouncing Yasir Arafat, or from expressing strong sup****t for
Israel's security fence.
Re****ts the Times: "In an e-mail message, Mr. Obama blamed a staff
member for the oversight, and expressed the hope that 'none of this
has raised any questions on your part regarding my fundamental
commitment to Israel=92s security.'"
In January, during MSNBC's presidential debate in Las Vegas, Obama was
asked about a do***ent put together by one of his South Carolina
staffers that listed comments made by the Clinton campaign that some
perceived to be attempting to stoke racial fires. "In hindsight, do
you regret pu****ng this story?=94 asked Tim Russert.
"Our sup****ters, our staff get overzealous," Obama said. "They start
saying things that I would not say, and it is my responsibility to
make sure that we're setting a clear tone in our campaign.=94
In February in a meeting with the Chicago Tribune, Obama was asked
about an earmark that went to the University of Chicago while his wife
Michelle Obama worked there.
"I don=92t think that I was obligated to recuse myself from anything
related to the university," Obama said, adding, "when it comes to
earmarks because of those concerns, it=92s probably something that
should have been passed on to [U.S. Sen.] Dick Durbin, and I think
probably something that slipped through the cracks. It did not come
through us, through me or Michelle, and Michelle has been very careful
about staying separate and apart from any government work. But you
could make a good argument that this is something that slipped through
our cracks, through our screening system.=94
In a March 2008 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times to answer
questions about Tony Rezko, Obama was asked about the fact that Obama
had told the newspaper in November 2006 that he had never been asked
to do anything to advance Rezko's business interests. But the Sun-
Times had subsequently learned about a October 28, 1998 letter Obama
wrote to city and state housing officials on behalf of a housing
project for seniors that Rezko was working on.
The letter, Obama said, "was essentially a form letter of the sort
that I did all time. And that I wasn=92t, by the way, aware of.=94
A re****ter asked: You weren't aware that he was associated with the
project?
Responded Obama: "I wasn't even aware that we wrote the letter. The
answer that I gave at the time was accurate as far as I knew...This
was one of many form letters, or letters of recommendation we would
send out constantly for all sorts of projects. And my understanding is
that our letter was just one of many. And I wasn=92t a decision maker in
any of this process.=94
The Sun-Times also pointed out that in November 2006 Obama estimated
that Rezko had raised somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000 for him
during his political career.
But since that answer, Obama has given back almost $160,000 in Rezko-
related contributions.
"The original estimate was based on, I asked my staff to find what
monies they attributed to Rezko, and this was the figure given to me,"
Obama said.
So, for those keeping track at home, that's ten instances of Obama
publicly blaming his staff for various screw-ups.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!
(You of course could also add Austan Goolsbee, Samantha Power, Gordon
Fischer, and retired Gen. Tony McPeak.)
That would be 14. We will continue to keep track.
And for the record, yet again, let me state that I find Sen. Obama's
staff unfailingly competent and polite, courteous and efficient, and I
once again express my regret that Sen. Obama does apparently not feel
the same way.
- jpt
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