BEING AN OLD DEMOCRAT HE CAN'T BE EXPECTED TO ADVOCATE TAKING RESPONSIBILITY:

Obama vs. his staff (KENNETH P. VOGEL, 8/30/08, Politico)

Obama disavowed his campaign’s first response, telling journalists that “I think that, uh, you know, campaigns start getting these, uh, hair triggers and, uh, the statement that Joe and I put out reflects our sentiments,” he said.

Obama disavowed his campaign’s first response, telling journalists that “I think that, uh, you know, campaigns start getting these, uh, hair triggers and, uh, the statement that Joe and I put out reflects our sentiments,” he said.

Earlier in the same availability, however, he told reporters that John McCain “wants to take the country in the wrong direction. I'm assuming Gov. Palin agrees with him and his policies” — echoing Burton’s claim that “that's not the change we need, it's just more of the same.”

The latest disavowal of his staff’s comments on his behalf or in his name continues a tactic Obama employed repeatedly during his contentious battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

When confronted about a campaign memo during the primary criticizing Clinton’s ties to India that referred to her as “D-Punjab,” Obama called it “a screw-up on the part of our research team” and said “it was stupid and caustic.”

And when the late Tim Russert asked Obama at a Las Vegas debate about his campaign’s efforts to push the storyline that Team Clinton was stoking racial tensions, Obama said “our supporters, our staff, get overzealous. They start saying things that I would not say.”

He carries being reactionary a tad too far when he avoids W's "fault" of being overly loyal to his staff.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 30, 2008 2:16 PM