Let me put this story into context. Barack Obama's top political strategist, David Axelrod, has worked on so many campaigns that even he has lost count. Quite a few Democrats in Illinois have utilized his services, but outside of the state, John Edwards, Deval Patrick, Eliot Spitzer, Chris Dodd, and Hillary Clinton have taken Axelrod into their campaign camps.
In short, he's not an idiot.
Two days ago Axelrod made a comment that could be interpreted that Hillary Clinton was responsible for the assassination of Benizer Bhutto.
Here is what he said, courtesy of TIME's Jay Newton-Small:
Bhutto's death will "call into issue the judgment: who's made the right judgments," Axelrod said. "Obviously, one of the reasons that Pakistan is in the distress that it's in is because al-Qaeda is resurgent, has become more powerful within that country and that's a consequence of us taking the eye off the ball and making the wrong judgment in going into Iraq. That's a serious difference between these candidates and I'm sure that people will take that into consideration."
Of course Pakistan is the nation that Senator Obama suggested attacking a few months ago.
Axelrod's comments can be interpreted two ways--campaign stress, or he really believes what he said.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer (Obama has the audacity to boycott the higher-rated Fox News Channel) asked the senator to explain those comments. Click on the YouTube link to find out what he said. Obama was less than comfortable, and safe to say, this video clip won't make it into any Obama '08 "Best of" DVD.
It gets worse for the South Sider. The Chicago Sun-Times Lynn Sweet, a big liberal, hammers Obama on his CNN performance. This is the same reporter who worked out next to Obama at Chicago's East Bank Club, and then expressed regret that she was unable to follow him into the men's locker room.
Here's a portion of Sweet's Sun-Times blog entry on Axelrod. What Sweet wrote is italicized:
Obama replied (My note: After Blitzer offered to read Axelrod's comments)—and I think I nailed the quote here—"No, I, I, I, I, I have to, I heard, I heard, I don’t need it, I don't need to hear what you read because I was, I overheard it when he said it, and this is one of those situations where Washington is putting a spin on it. It makes no sense whatsoever.”
(Might you wonder what "I overheard it" means? One should not read this literally. Obama was not standing near Axelrod when he was talking to reporters after the speech. A bunch of reporters were interviewing Axelrod near the press risers at the back of the hall.)
More...
Obama: "Now, first of all, that shouldn't have been the question."
(Disputing a question is a technique Obama has used in the presidential debates when confronted with being asked something he did not want to specifically have to respond to.)
Obama then said, "The question should be, "how is this going to impact the safety and security of the United States," not "how is it going to affect a political campaign in Iowa."
As for Obama's claim that Axelrod "shouldn't have been the question." Not only is Axelrod's political specialty media relations, he's a former Chicago Tribune political reporter.
Short of "Howard Stern" type questions, the media should be able query Axelrod on just about anything.
And Obama, who is supposed to be so smart, blew it again.
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