Obama does not deny South Carolina memo came from his campaign; will not stand by such in the future

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: About That S.C. Memo
By Anne Kornblut

LAS VEGAS -- Tonight, Barack Obama contradicted the message that had been coming from his campaign on one point. His advisers had not previously taken responsibility for a memo from his South Carolina press secretary outlining verbal missteps on race by the Clintons. But during the debate in Las Vegas, Obama did not deny that the memo had come from his campaign, and said he would not stand by such work in the future, saying he regretted it "not only in hindsight but going forward."

"It is my responsibility to make sure that we're setting a clear tone in our campaign, and I take that responsibility very seriously," he said, "which is why I spoke yesterday and sent a message in case people were not clear that what we want to do is make sure that we focus on the issues."

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/15/about_that_sc_memo.html?hpid=topnews

[AtomicKitten]

1. A list of her attacks on him and you expect him to apologize?

Pahleeeeze.

[VotesForWomen]

6. yeah, what she said wrt MLK was a real racist 'attack' on Obama. keep saying that.

[AtomicKitten]

7. Inform yourself.

Seriously.

Here's a start: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05jPTcWMUJs

[Essene]

17. Not racist. Race baiting. Way to take the bait... *rolleyes*

[K Gardner]

11. This is the irony, isn't it? The Clinton machine smears him for two months and it is expected

- and actually comes to pass - that Obama is expected to apologize. He does so, even tho he has nothing to apologize for.. he never even really defended himself against the attacks. Clinton never apologizes - with her pathetic parsing of words and triangulation. I have never been so disgusted with the Democratic party as I am right now.

[BeyondGeography]

18. Obama's hoping people can figure it out for themselves

I hope he's right.

[karynnj]

19. It's also an echo of how the Republicans have never apologized

unless they are convicted and on the way to prison, but party leaders have pressured Democrats to apologize when they actually did nothing wrong. The clearest example was when Durbin apologized because the Republicans twisted a sentence in a Senate speech where he spoke against the Abu Ghraib and Gitmo in a very good Senate speech.

I think here though that Obama is doing what the Clintons actually have done, taken responsibility for something done by his campaign. He also spoke of wanting to change that going forward. Compiling a list of all the instances you perceive as attacks on your candidate was not wrong and it will be longer than a list compiled by an unbiased observer. I assume every campaign is monitoring attacks and they should be. What was wrong here is that this list was very likely intentionally leaked to the media, which had the effect of appearing to make a point that the Obama campaign was not making officially.

I assume that this will be used by the Obama campaign as a lesson that while they need to monitor and respond (at some level) to attacks, leaking something like this to the media shouldn't be done. Put in context, this is far less than what the Clinton staffers have done. There were at least 2 volunteers/staffers who were forced out after they send out some pretty despicable emails and there were the Shaheen/Johnson comments. There is a difference between compiling real Clinton comments and complete speculation or lies(selling drugs etc).

[Essene]

15. Yes, how dare they track her race baiting!!! His fault!

[sandnsea]

2. He said it was not talking points released to the press

And sadly didn't make that clear in his response. That or he decided to not do the kind of parsing Hillary did and just take responsibility the way a leader is supposed to.

[dkf]

3. I like that he didn't make excuses. He owned up to it and said he would do better.

I'm so proud of him.

I doubt he had anything to do with the memo but he takes responsibility anyway.

Love the man!!!

He is such a breath of fresh air.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. I agree. nt

[FrenchieCat]

5. They were tracking the attacks......documenting the facts......

and I would have been disappointed if they hadn't.

I'm not sure as to what the sin is here.

If surrogates called him "KID" 4 times on 4 separate occasions, and the campaign were able to document a pattern, how does that become a talking point memo? Was it said 4 times or not, should be the real issue.

But of course, I think that way cause I'm normal.

But good that he didn't belabor the point. He wasn't there to get defensive.

[karynnj]

20. I think he handled it very well

The whole episode showed that his campaign is monitoring, analyzing and compiling the attacks made. With all the people here speaking of the need to fight back - this is needed.

Leaking the compiled list of Clinton comments seemed to make a point that the campaign did not believe - that the Clintons were racially insensitive.

[Kahuna]

8. I would love to see the memo. I know that I have heard with my

own ears some odious personal attacks against Obama. Good on them for keeping a list of what they have been doing and saying.

[ellacott]

9. I agree, Clinton's camp also kept a list

Bill was on the Black radio shows saying that they had a list of 80 things that Obama's camp said against them.

I guess it's fine if the Clintons keep a list.

[Perry Logan]

10. Mm. Obamites sour. Lips puckered up tight.

[flpoljunkie]

12. SC Obama camp writes memo listing Clinton camp race baiting and somehow it's Obama's fault-get real!

The press has to make this a "pox on both their houses"--no surprise there. No matter. The Hillary folks cannot "unring this bell." The damage has been done, and they have shown--like the Bushes-- they will do whatever it takes to win.

[MethuenProgressive]

13. "Obama contradicted the message that had been coming from his campaign"

In other words: "We got caught."

[Essene]

16. It isnt really a contradiction to track the smears of your opponent and to say you arent engaging...

The same.

[ProSense]

14. More on the

memo.