Amardeep’s earlier post on memo-gate rightly inspired a lot of passionate discussion on this site; many of us, whether we were massively disappointed or merely mildly surprised, expressed a strong interest in what the Senator’s reaction to it all might be. For the four of you who haven’t already received this in your inbox, we have our answer (via SAFO):
Senator Barack Obama’s Response to the Indian American Community
Dear Friends,
On Monday, June 18, Senator Barack Obama issued the following statement in response to the concerns expressed by the Indian American community regarding the Hillary Clinton opposition research memo. Senator Obama personally requested that we distribute this letter to the entire SAFO community:
I wanted to respond personally to the concerns you expressed regarding the recent research memo that our campaign put into circulation.
I believe that your concerns with the memo are justified. To begin with, the memo did not reflect my own views on the importance of America’s relationship with India. I have long believed that the best way to promote U.S. economic growth and opportunity for American workers is to continually improve the skills of our own workforce and invest in our own scientific research, technological capacity and infrastructure, rather than to try to insulate ourselves from the global economy.
More importantly, the memo’s caustic tone, and its focus on contributions by Indian-Americans to the Clinton campaign, was potentially hurtful, and as such, unacceptable. The memo also ignored my own long-standing relationship to – and support from – the Indian-American community.
In sum, our campaign made a mistake. Although I was not aware of the contents of the memo prior to its distribution, I consider the entire campaign – and in particular myself – responsible for the mistake. We have taken appropriate action to prevent errors like this from happening in the future.
Please feel free to share this letter with other members of your organization or leaders in the Indian-American community. I look forward to our continued friendship and exchange of ideas – during the course of this campaign, and beyond.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
Hmmm. I had to read it a second time, to find the answer to the burning question in my mind, namely what, if any action was taken against the person who did the hit job. Once again, for the cheap seats and the distracted:
We have taken appropriate action to prevent errors like this from happening in the future.
What is “appropriate action”? According to a fresh article from the chocolate post:
The campaign said the new policy is to ensure that senior staff will review materials before they are distributed publicly. [WaPo]
Now THAT is a brilliant idea.
So, what do you think? Is the candidate’s response good enough? Not enough? Should we dismiss it as lip service? Is Barack back in your good graces?
He’s back in my good graces. (I was actually working on a follow up post, but you beat me to the punch 😉
Also see the piece in the Des Moines Register, where Obama distanced himself from the tone of the memo:
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama referred to as “stupid” and “caustic” his campaign’s memo last week that implied rival Hillary Clinton’s investments in India made her fit to represent the south Asian country.
“It was a screw-up on the part of our research team,” Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, said during a meeting today with Des Moines Register editors and reporters. “It wasn’t anything I had seen or my senior staff had seen.” (link)
On the particular line that caused so much disagreement amongst SM readers over the weekend, “Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab),” Obama has this to say:
“That particular quote was a joke, I think, that Hillary Clinton made to an Indian-American audience,” Obama told the Register. “The research team thought it would be clever to put that at the top.”
Obama continued, “I thought it was stupid and caustic and not only didn’t reflect my view of the complicated issue of outsourcing … it also didn’t reflect the fact that I have longstanding support and friendships within the Indian-American community.”
Obama said, “I take responsibility for it, as does our campaign. And we quickly apologized and are communicating that in various circles around the country.” (link)
Stupid and caustic sound more forthright than most other politicians’ responses to this sort of thing. Not that the apology makes Obama worth voting for – yet. His policy positions are pretty high in the “vagueness” index. It’s a good thing he is not among the elite club of other candidates (HC included) and most politicians who couldn’t bother reading the Natl Intel Estimate before voting to give authorization for the war.
Hey, he’s not my guy (nor is Hilary). I like Edwards (although I have some issues there, too). But it’s a pretty weak statement. But I’m not impressed.
Who’d have thunk the senator would be such a classical Bollywood scholar? Big bad hero annoys the girl. Girl shows him chappal. Beginning of true love. Cut to wet sari song & dance.
good enough. i don’t need the actual staffer fired or strung up. the explanation was what it was — an explanation, with an acceptance of responsibilty and an apology. To id the actual staffer would, in some way, take the responsibility away from the candidate himself, and here, he takes the responsibility for it.
I have to say that this is an uncompromising, serious response apologizing for the nasty insinuations and implications of the original note. It’s not of the usual “I am sorry that you are offended” ilk.
Shodan, where is Bob Cristo in this picture? Tom Alter is ok too.
Although the explanation does have the renegade research team disclaimer. Personally, I’d give him the benefit of the doubt this time around, but other such snafus in the future would be concerning.
I feel this reinforces a feeling I’ve had about Obama for sometime now: he’s incredibly charismatic but nothing more then just a well skilled politician. The memo will appeal to the anti-outsourcing masses, while his quiet apology appeases the brown-folk. He’s making his cake and eating it too. As much as I want to like him, this just further proves to me he can’t give a straight answer. Maybe living in Illinois causes me hold him to a better standard then other politicians, but I just don’t see him living up to the hype.
Ok
Does that mean the research team doesn’t have any senior staff?
While I think the letter itself is solid (from a political standpoint), I just wonder why the campaign let some idiot leak this out to begin with. I’m glad senior staffers will at least look over things like this, but some common sense on the part of his campaign staff would certainly do the freshman Senator some good.
Also, John at Americablog (http://www.americablog.com/2007/06/obamas-senior-staff-defends-racist.html) points out that “Hey, he’s saying his senior staff DIDN’T approve it but his senior staff has done NOTHING BUT approve it all week”. He’s also got another link to another not too happy poster at Firedoglake (http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/06/18/tick-tock-tick-tock/)
Works for me. Good on you Obama. And good on the Indian-American community for not allowing the rationalizer’s excuses for why it was appropriate, after all, to be shat upon, to dominate the discourse. Good also on Subodh Chandra and “South Asians for Obama” to call a spade a spade!
I still haven’t decided who I will ultimately vote for, and the fact that this memo materialized was a major blunder that reflects badly on Obama’s campaign organization and the particular individuals involved. But Obama’s forthright acceptance of responsibility and acknowledgment that the memo was wrongheaded are more than good enough for me. When I do ultimately make my decision, this episode probably won’t be much of a factor.
Unless, that is, other candidates persist in trying to make an issue of it, in which case I will probably hold it against them, not Obama. As we have seen, very few of the candidates can pass any purity test when it comes to these kinds of incidents, and it isn’t really all that much better for mainstream candidates to use the Indian American community as a political football, to score cheap points in the short term, than it is to use it as a bogeyman, the way this memo did.
There’s way too much at stake in this election and for that matter in Washington right now — time for all of us to get back to focusing on the issues. Including, of course, outsourcing, which as Obama rightly notes is a complicated issue which deserves more serious consideration than either the opposition research memo or the TV xenophobes have given it.
I appreciate how forthright Obama’s response is in actually admitting a mistake. However, “We have taken appropriate action to prevent errors like this from happening in the future” sounds more like a promise that he is going to be careful about what gets leaked to the public rather than doing something to address the attitudes of the people who wrote the memo.
why do people still persist in being caught by the ‘wonder’ bug when a politician acts like a politician? By definition, a politician is someone who either is out of office and wants to be elected, or is already in office and wants to stay there.
Lying, cheating, misrepresenting and denial are time-honored tools in any successful politician’s arsenal. Having a large campaign staff also provides deniability, “my peon did it.”
knowing that a candidate is a skilled politician, who uses the tools at his command, doesn’t seem to be a good reason to not vote for them.
The whole thing proves he’s a smooth operator, and that his organization churns out whatever pablum the masses have an appetite for, not what he believes in. Hillary is tougher, more seasoned and I see her as a nation-building type, which we’ll need plenty of, to even begin to undo the last 8 yrs.
His apology seems genuine (although I never doubted his character at any time.) I think he’s a nice young man but doesn’t have the connections or experience for a U.S. President role. Just my opinion but he is an awesome servant of the people and statesman.
One question, doesn’t he look like he could be Gilbert Gottfried’s long lost brother or cousin?
Would you describe him as going dutch with the blame?
I knew it. That cheapskate — he’s a steak-eating, heavy drinker. 😉
As I noted previously… racial identity politics from yet another politician. I am curious, in regards to those of you who intend to vote for this politician… what is it about him that makes draws your vote? Is it the droll fact that he is a “minority?” Is it his purported “charisma?” What is it? Personally, I find the man’s policy positions lacking in detail and have yet to see anything from him beyond yet another empty suit politician. The few (and rather nebulous) broad policy positions that he has espoused sound like more of the same tax and spend (instead of the just spend fiscal unconservative that is in office now) policies that have been promulgated by the Left for decades.
Although, I guess going Dutch would really mean claiming a complete loss of memory and giving Ollie North up.
Hillary … a nation builder ? Highly doubtful. I’ll take my chances with Obama given a choice.
seems like an honest enough apology. what more could you want, assuming a genuine mistake was made in terms of operations and reviewing materials? Certainly not like the “I’m sorry but…” form of apologies that stream out routinely from the likes of Bush, Imus, Limbaugh, etc. There is even an NPR audio clip on political apologies at http://www.npr.org/blogs/talk/2007/03/whos_sorry_now.html.
Vikram, Hillary tried to sell the country on national healthcare 16 yrs before the current call for a single-payor system. AND she kept on tickin after taking a lickin for it. At least we know what she believes in and that she’ll stand up for her beliefs. Gotta admit though, Obama is yummy eye-candy….
Ok – In my books, Obama is back where he was a week ago.
M. Nam
whatever, he didn’t make a gandhi joke about gas station attendants, right? because if he did that, maybe i’d give a fuck.
What? Please. Even with this ridiculous memo I’ve found Hillary’s racist gaffes more offensive. Nation-builder she is not; she’s incredibly divisive, both for women voters and for Dems. Not saying she’s unqualified, just saying I don’t think she “unites” folks any more than anyone currently in office or running for office.
It looks like a win win situation for both Obama and Clinton. Obama makes a very acceptable apology that appeases offended indians; and his campaign benefits from getting the word out about Hillary’s dubious (to nativist americans) desi connections. The Clinton campaign benefits by getting the issue of her desi connections out in the open when it cannot lose her the election. By dealing with it now and forcing Obama to acknowledge that the memo was low and wrong her campaign has taken some of the bite out of this issue that the Republicans were most likely planning to spring on her at a vulnerable time during the main election campaign.
Which is why it was the Clinton campaign that released the memo to the media, which was ignoring it, and forced it out into the open.
Pied piper: I’ve been called a lot of names here at SM: facist, racist, Uncle Tom, Brown Sahib. But you’ve gone too far. I am not a liberal democrat.
Good to see this. At an Obama rally I attended, I was pleasantly surprised to hear in the pre-Obama introductions an acknowledgment of brown people separately, instead of the usual ‘Asians’. Definitely good to hear this was a screw up and he is not trying to use an anti India stand for political gains.
Obama’s apology at http://www.safo2008.com/Blog.aspx “More importantly, the memo’s caustic tone, and its focus on contributions by Indian-Americans to the Clinton campaign, was potentially hurtful, and as such, unacceptable”
Potentially hurtful?? As such??
Pathetic. This is code for “You miserable sensitive wimp, IF you are hurt by this memo, THEN this is unacceptable. But remember, it’s your fault that you are a miserable sensitive wimp”.
This is in the same league as the “I’m sorry if…” non-apologies.
From the majority of the comments it seems like we’ll never know how that memo leaked. Like some others have pointed out the memo is out there and people have read it. Him apologizing is what he should do under the cirumstances, but i can’t help wondering if this was a good political ploy. What difference does the apology really make?
But then again as he has said that the memos don’t reflect his personal opinion, that will take the bite out. I hope the Obama folks circulate aggressively send it out to show that they really mean it.
OH, PLEASE. HE CALLED THE MEMO “STUPID” TO THE DES MOINES REGISTER. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?
How about a sincere apology with no qualifications?
Potentially hurtful?? As such??
Stupid? yes of course, it was a stupid strategy, that is obvious. But was it inherently WRONG?
Was an enthusiastic Obama supporter, but I’m very disappointed with these non-apologies. Feel like a fool for wasting my time supporting his candidacy.
It seems to me someone should be fired. If not for cultural insensitivty, at least for performing VERY poorly on the measures of campaign work.
If no one is fired, I’d be less pissed and more just lamed out that obama is not as smart as he made us think he is. it is ok to make mistakes, but when they are big, you gotta show decisive redemptive action — not just talk about it…!
BTW– i was relieved that there is a somewhat acceptable excuse for the (D-Punjab) headline: is hillary herself joked about it, then it’s fair game. like when she decided to be a yankees fan in 2000 and was mocked for that.
initially i wondered if it was racist at all: i.e. the terribly-stereotypical character “Punjab” from Annie — INTERESTING: the remake from 1999 was on over the weekend and they decided not to include our old “Sikh” brother, played in 1982 by Geoffrey Holder!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0207972/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083564/
I think Obama did a decent enough job of distancing himself from the memo. “Stupid” and “hurtful” are terms most politicians avoid like the plague. And I even believe him; campaign staffers get pretty carried away with their fervor, and sometimes it’s impossible to review ALL communications. They spend a great deal of time goading the other side verbally, prank-calling them, tying up phone lines, faxing obsceneties, you name it. And that’s for candidates vying for the same party nomination! It gets REALLY dirty after that.
What I’d like to see still is what other people are asking for: namely, what’s been done to address this situation. I sincerely cannot believe any senior staffer (especially in the wake of Macacagate) would think that this kind of communication would ever be a good idea, especially if it could be attributed back to the Obama campaign (and clearly, this left a trail). So that means some small group of research associates put this together while rubbing their hands in glee.
I have to think this is exactly the kind of xenophobic racial nonsense that would make any politician go pale, regardless of his or her actual politics. You just don’t want communications like this getting to the outside world.
And I actually do think they should be removed from the campaign. Not for punitive reasons, but just to send a clear message that this kind of thing won’t be tolerated. Investigate finances, contributions, and voting records all you like, but leave ethnicity out of it!
Lets not turn this into Macacagate, my fellow mutineers.
Okay, enough of examining the fluff in your bellybutton…lets not get bent out of shape here. Obama (your mama, not mine for sure…couldn’t resist that), the poor guy has apologized to the best of his limited ability (he’s probably feverishing learning the key Hindi phrases to win the Indian contingent over) but we seem to have completely sidelined the brilliant Bollywood storyline floated by no. 4 and no. 6 Shodan and Rahul here.
Cut to scene: “tu kutta, teri ma-behen nahin hain kya? says Tom Alter, the heroine Hilary’s goonish brother, twirling his moustache. In the background, Hilary aka heroine heaves her breast and cries: Bhaiya, par mein uske bache ki ma banne wali hu.
Rahul and Shodan: I now turn the storyline to your illustrious scrip-twriting!
I do know how to spell…”script-writing” in the previous post and not scrip-twriting. That’s even painful to pronounce.
Manju —
Don’t worry — I merely said “steak eater,” not “gourmand,” so I’m not calling you anything. But now that I’ve read your comment…. if it’s “just drinks” often enough for even a gourmand such as yourself to come out even — well, maybe that explains a lot. 😉
Hey, but if you spelled it trite-ing, it would be true for Bollywood. Saar shahar mujhe loin ke naam se jaanta hai.
damn, PP, first you mistake me for obama, now ted kennedy.
I think that it is ok. Appropriate action is done internally, ie. don’t air dirty laundry, in most every company, and I’d guess it would be the same for a campaign. They won’t say who was fired or not, if anyone. There’s the old adage “trust but verify”, so trust he did it, but verify with the actions and words he says in the future.
Manju, I served with Ted Kennedy: I knew Ted Kennedy; Ted Kennedy was a friend of mine. Manju, you’re a Ted Kennedy.
Prema:
Look what some Americans thnk of us:
go forth and educate them. i don’t think your home ownership stats prove anything, so make sure you mention the IQ thing.
That was really uncalled for, Rahul.
I am now firmly on the fence on Obama. He seems clueless – has not surrounded himself with people who can balance the big picture with local interest. His campaign staff reflects a similar parochialism to the team that George W. brought in from Texas. Obama is certainly far smarter – but will he surround himself with savvy people or idealists with narrow lenses who will make bad policies?
Yeah, he’s definitely back in my good books 🙂
Now I can go ahead and buy that ‘I Mack for Barack’ t shirt…
Do you guys really want BO in the white house? When I first got off the boat, first thing u ppl taught me was get rid of BO. You said use a deodorant. Now you want me embrace BO?
.
that’s it? no sensitivity camp? shouldn’t he have to wear a turban for a week and kiss amardeep’s bum or something? you guys are easier than paris hilton in a limp bizkit tour bus. can’t you at least play hard to get like pamela harriman? oh, what has monica done to you libs?
Well, at least we know what Tash looks like.