Obama's Indian-American Backers Seek Further Apology Over Memo
Posted by Josh Gerstein
Mon, 18 Jun 2007 at 1:01 AM
Some of Senator Obama's supporters in the Indian-American community are still fuming over his campaign's effort to attack Senator Clinton for being too friendly with India. Our Russell Berman had a post last week on opposition research the Obama camp sent out sub rosa referring to the former first lady as "Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)" because of her campaign donations from Indian Americans, President Clinton's business dealings with India and Indian emigres, and Mrs. Clinton's lack of outrage over outsourcing.
On Friday, Mr. Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, expressed "regret" over the tone of the attack, but not the substance.
An e-mail sent out early this morning by a grassroots group, South Asians for Obama, called the initial response "unsatisfactory."
The mass e-mail makes it clear that Mr. Obama's Indian-American supporters were ticked off over the memo and the Obama campaign's nonchalant reaction to it. "We, too, were shocked, offended and disappointed by the memo. It was hurtful to our community, and contrary to both the values and ideas that Senator Obama's campaign represents," the e-mail from the group's leadership said.
A posting about the flap on the South Asians for Obama Web site says the campaign now realizes this was a bigger gaffe than it first thought. "The Senator himself is cognizant of our concerns (not just with the memo, but also the initial response) and has made clear his intention to address the situation personally," the posting says.The group suggests a further apology is in the works.
My take is that this attack on Mrs. Clinton was a very stupid thing for the Obama campaign to do for several reasons.
First, Mr. Obama is supposed to be the multicultural candidate in this race. He is supposed to personify the new, mutiracial culture of America. His campaign shouldn't be slinging stuff that looks like the kind of xenophobic stuff produced by candidates on the extreme right and occasionally the Republican Party.
Second, there's no resonance in this attack because few Americans view India or Indian immigrants as some kind of threat. An increasing number of Americans view China that way, but not India. China is a nominally communist, one-party state with a military bracing for conflict with America. India is a democracy that is now viewed as an American ally, particularly with Pakistan looking shakier by the day. Some in the American tech industry are worried about outsourcing to India, but my guess is these people are more likely to wind up in John Edwards's camp than Mr. Obama's.
Third, and probably most damaging, the fact this kind of inflammatory stuff was sent out by Obama's campaign underscores fears that the Illinois senator and his posse are not ready for prime time. This was the kind of thing that any experienced national-level operative would have nixed in an instant. This was not an off the cuff e-mail from a junior staffer, but a carefully researched and formatted oppo release. Either senior-level people approved it, which raises questions about those people, or it was circulated to the national press corps without approval, which suggests a level of internal disorder that is also worrisome.
The demand for a further apology has me thinking about setting up an inadequate apology beat here at the Sun. Just a few days ago, I found myself writing about complaints that an apology from FOX News was insufficiently abject.
link
