Given the harshness of her remark, I guess this was largely inevitable.
A Barack Obama adviser has resigned after calling rival Hillary Rodham Clinton “a monster.”
A campaign official told The Associated Press Friday that Samantha Power’s resignation is effective immediately.
Power told The Scotsman that Clinton is a “monster” who will stoop to anything to win. She tried to make the remark off the record, but the Scottish newspaper printed it anyway. She apologized in a statement and the campaign decried the remark.
Power is a foreign policy adviser to Obama and a Pulitzer Prize winner.
I admit, I have mixed feelings about this. Power clearly made an inappropriate and intemperate comment. She asked the reporter to consider her remark off the record, but the journalist wasn’t about to give her a break given how striking the quote was (with a lot of reporters, “off the record” is an agreement that both parties have to agree to — it’s not just something you can blurt out after saying something provocative). Her comment was inexcusable, so she had to go, which is a shame.
I’m reminded that Power isn’t a political professional, accustomed to the difficulties of dealing with political reporters. She has an accomplished academic background, but that doesn’t necessarily prepare someone for serving as a campaign surrogate with a reporter. Power is accustomed to speaking her mind — and that, regrettably, is rarely a quality rewarded during campaign work.
But I still have a nagging feeling that Power is facing a punishment that is too harsh.
It’s an imprecise comparison, but this morning I’ve been thinking about comments John McCain made in 1998. He told a nasty, tasteless joke about Chelsea Clinton at a Republican Senate fundraiser in front of a room full of people, describing the president’s daughter as “ugly,” and suggesting that Janet Reno is a man. McCain apologized, Clinton accepted, and everyone moved on.
In contrast, Power got a little too relaxed with a reporter, and made an intemperate insult in front of one person. She issued a formal apology, Clinton’s campaign didn’t accept it, and Power had to resign. It just seems like there’s a disconnect.
People who work in politics say nasty things about their rivals. It’s about as common as breathing. Emotions run high in the midst of a campaign, and human beings are going to say mean things about their opponents. Sometimes, it’s supposed to appear in a newspaper — top Clinton aides comparing Obama to Ken Starr, for example — and sometimes, it’s not. (Technically, Power was speaking to the reporter in the UK while promoting a book, not while representing the campaign. But no matter.)
Power let her guard down for a few seconds, quickly realized she shouldn’t have, but it was too late. The Clinton campaign pounced, which, given the environment, makes perfect sense. On the one hand, there’s clearly no place for Power’s personal attack in respectful discourse, and her resignation was the only appropriate call. On the other hand, I feel like Power deserves a little slack, given her accomplishments — she has, after all, dedicated her professional career to fighting genocide — and her immediate recognition of error.
I suppose this should be a lesson to everyone — when speaking to a reporter, don’t let your guard down, don’t get relaxed, and don’t share candid thoughts. Ever. Imagine that every word you say will end up on the front page of a newspaper — in Power’s case, literally — and speak accordingly.
