Opinion: Sarah Palin apologizes (sort of) to Barack Obama and community organizers

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An early excerpt has surfaced from Part II of Sarah Palin’s interview with Sean Hannity (airing tonight on Fox News Channel, following up Wednesday night’s Part I), and in it she addresses the taunt she directed at Barack Obama’s background as a community organizer during her early moments on the national stage (all of a couple of weeks ago).

“I certainly didn’t mean to hurt his feelings,’ she tells Hannity. ‘Didn’t mean to offend any community organizers either.’

She adds: ‘I do have respect for those who have chosen public service. What I was doing certainly, should be obvious, was direct a comment to him as he had taken a shot at small mayors across the nation.’

Palin was referring to Obama, back when he was more focused on the Republican vice presidential nominee then many Democrats thought he should have been, noting that as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she had supervised fewer employees than he has in running a presidential campaign.

Palin continues to recycle many of the lines that gained her so much attention in her initial appearances. But the crack about community organizers seems to have been waylaid. After all, angering folks who specialize in galvanizing large numbers of people is not a particularly wise tactic as an election approaches.

For more on community organizers, check out this piece by The Times’ Richard Fausset.

-- Don Frederick