Barack Obama apologizes for attack on Clinton

(UPDATE: Note to Readers.  Click here.)

Every political campaign has someone--often many someones--assigned to look into every nook-and-cranny of their opponent's life and affairs, all kinds of affairs. When they find damaging materials, they try to get them circulated by slipping them to reporters, usually with a promise of anonymity.

Sen. Barack Obama is now scrambling to soothe hurt feelings among some of his strongest supporters in the wake of a controversial attack memo last week poking fun at Sen. Hillary Clinton, his chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, for her ties to India and Indian-Americans.

Obama was working the apology phones today and planning a formal apology, distancing himself from the memo, which was headlined, "HILLARY CLINTON (D-PUNJAB)'S PERSONAL FINANCIAL AND POLITICAL TIES TO INDIA," It was prepared by the campaign's opposition research department and distributed to reporters last week in exchange for a promise that reporters not reveal the source. So much for trusting the reporters.

The memo got out.

How? A reporter showed it to the Clinton campaign, who showed it to more reporters without seeking anonymity. So the original source was outted.

Already today, in an appearance before the Des Moines Register editorial board, Obama called the memo "stupid and caustic" and said it was prepared by his staff but neither he nor his senior staff saw it before distribution. "It was a screw-up on the part of our research team," Obama said.

This afternoon, in a letter to Indian-Americans, Obama said the community's feelings about the memo were "justified." He said the document, which appeared to attack Clinton for supporting outsourcing, did not reflect his views. "In sum, our campaign made a mistake," he wrote in a letter that he said should be distributed widely in the community. "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."

The group South Asians for Obama, closely affiliated with the Illinois senator's campaign, had posted a scathing note late Sunday saying its members were "shocked and dismayed" by the memo and "less than satisfied" with the campaign's initial responses over the weekend. Officials had said they regretted the tone but appreciated strong support from Indian-Americans.

"The main thing people have a problem with is the implication that having ties to the Indian-American community, that fundraising from Indian-Americans in the United States, is a problem," a spokesman for the group, Dave Kumar, told the Times' Peter Wallsten today. "It goes against the inclusive nature of the campaign, or what we view to be the inclusive nature of the campaign." To read Wallsten's complete story, click here.

The attack memo was notable because Obama has previously pledged to run an attack-free campaign. In one appearance, Obama promised that his opposition research team would focus on contrasting candidates' policy differences, not personal attacks. Obama has cited poor staff work before - most notably after he publicly chastised his own spokesman for engaging in a tit-for-tat exchange with the Clinton campaign after movie mogul David Geffen endorsed Obama.

Kumar said that, as of Monday, the group was satisfied that Obama was sufficiently and sincerely upset about the memo's content. Kumar said he paid a recent visit to the Obama campaign headquarters and can understand how a memo was released without the senator's direct knowledge.

"I know there are people doing all sorts of opposition research, and lots of stuff goes out to the press that the senator isn't looking at," he said.

--Andrew Malcolm

Photo: Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.); Credit: Charlie Neibergall/AP

Comments

[joseph]

Obama is so unprofessional . I am in Va. he does'nt have a chance here. Maybe Georgia, S. carolina.. A few states . every week he is sliding more and more down the poles.. He needs to be less critical of everyone and trying to beat people down let us know his great ideas.Last week he was getting advice from Colin Powell... Know liar and uncle tom...He's done

[Vivek Golikeri]

Amidst all the brouhaha, few have noticed a key fact about the Indian-American community--- a split that has deep implications for the future. The second generation, raised outside India, care less for that country and more for our lives and interests here in the United States.

I wish India well because it is a civilized, democratic country,but care little for what goes on there except when it affects family. The only relationship I feel with India is an ethnic one. Whatever little Indian culture I still keep, I do so because of personal satisfaction, and out of absolutely no feeling of obligation to India or to the past.

I am as sick and tired of the older generation trying to force my heritage down my throat as I hate having Jehovah's Witnesses or evangelists trying to force-feed their religion to me. If they love India so much, why did they raise us here? And yes, I am vehemently opposed to the exporting of jobs. The US middle class today is an endangered species, and the real culprit is not India or Taiwan. It is the incestuous relationship between corporate America and their pawn politicians.

[Amy]

Why is this appearing now? It wasn't really news then. HRC can give, but take no criticism. We know this.

[karl]

this is an old article.
this is happened back to june 2007. I don't see why you are republishing an old article to create more confusion with Hillary worst performance last week ?

[Oscar]

Edwards is my man.

He can best unite the country, and govern with the consent of the governed.

[Katie McGee]

I find it interesting that this url was at the top of my google search in the News for Obama today (November 8, 2007) when this story actually broke in June of 2007! Why does this happen? Could it be that the Clinton camp sent out its tendrils in the net community and made it happen? This is the kind of thing that feeds my concerns about a Clinton presidency. If they will manipulate the news this way to remind people of a long forgotten event that reflected negatively on the the Obama campaign for a brief period and was quickly forgotten, where does their meddiling end?

[Dr. Greg]

This article is ancient history - this happened MONTHS ago! Obama had publicly apologized for this ages ago. Why is this now listed as new on Google News?

[Wayne]

Oh my God! This is such a LIE

Look you fools... the article was posted June 18, 2007. This is an old story.

Good job LA. Times for indexing it back. NOT!

I'm quite frustrated by main stream media

BLOG NOTE: We're not sure why this has bubbled up onto the Google radar screen now, either. We haven't reposted. It is an old story, as you all point out. -- SM

[jules]

This article is from June 2007.

Today is Nov. 8th.
Google lists this article as being 7 hours old.

Someone at the LA times must be a Clinton fan or stooge, as it would be VERY tyypical of the Clinton camp to contact a journalist and urge them to revive a lame story.

LA times should just remove the article, since it's 5 months old and they don't seem to have a handle on which articles "bubble up".

[E.J. Butler]

The L.A. Times should take this news from five months ago off of the Google site IMMEDIATELY! The headline for the story (Obama apologizes for attack on Clinton) makes it appear to reference the recent Democratic debate and its aftermath.
And in addition, if someone were to casually read this and not check dates they would think this was recent news, which has the potential to now harm Obama's campaign. Get it off now!!

NOTE: Sorry, but we don't control Google. -- SM

[yang]

could it be that someone at google supports clinton? once, I searched google news for barack obama and there were no search results.

[Jay]

Oh , if they what to bring this up again, then let us make the memo public.

[bymyside]

LA Times & Google: This is very disappointing and alarming. Not to mention very misleading to us readers and voters, for reasons stated above. Please correct this ASAP.

[Steve]

L.A. Times, you must be kidding me?For God sake this article is 5 months old.It`s outrageous that you publish an article that has nothing to do with the current situation.You must remove this article now!!!

[NAC]

This is a pathetic dredge of information from someone on the clinton camp. I agree...we need to vote out of America. Vote for Obama....someone different than the Clinton/Bush dynasty of dirty tricks and scoundrels. Swift Boat and now this?

[Heather Shrock]

Obama is not unprofessional. He is the most honest politician out there. He is real and he stands up for what he believes in! Hillary Clinton is too emotional and acts on emotions rather than choosing the proper protocol. Doesn't anyone remember when Bill was in office. Seriously, back off Obama, he knows what to do to make America a better place. He has been honest his whole campaign, he is real.