Obama: "Punjab" Memo Was A "Dumb Mistake"

Candidate Disavows Campaign Memo That Mocked Hillary's India Ties

(AP)  Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Monday disavowed a memo criticizing rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's financial ties to India, blaming his campaign staff for a "dumb mistake."

In an interview with The Associated Press, Obama labeled the memo and its headline — "Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)" — as "unnecessarily caustic." The memo had referred to Bill and Hillary Clintons' investments in India; her fundraising among Indian-Americans; and the former president's $300,000 in speech fees from Cisco, a company that has moved U.S. jobs to India.

"It was a dumb mistake on our campaign's part and I made it clear to my staff in no uncertain terms that it was a mistake," Obama told the AP in a brief interview.

The memo has created a furor in the Indian-American community and raised questions about Obama's claims that he is above attack politics epitomized by secretly distributing opposition research about a rival. Placing the blame on his staff is not new. Earlier this year, Obama faulted his staff for comments in a dispute with the Clinton camp over Hollywood donor David Geffen.

Last Thursday, Obama's campaign sent the memo to reporters, demanding that it not be attributed to their campaign. The Clinton campaign got a copy and also sent it to reporters.

"It is not reflective of the long-standing relationship I have had with the Indian-American community," Obama said in the interview.

"The issue of outsourcing is a genuine and important issue but to refer to one particular country was, I think, an error and I let all of us know that we've got to be more careful about how we communicate," he said.

In a statement on his Web site, Obama said he was not aware of the contents of the memo before it was distributed. The Illinois senator said he was responsible for the mistake and the campaign had taken appropriate action "to prevent errors like this from happening in the future."

The campaign said the new policy is to ensure that senior staff will review materials before they are distributed publicly.

Obama was campaigning in Iowa on Monday. Stopping in an Iowa town rocked by the closure of a Maytag plant, he called for new efforts to create jobs and end tax subsidies for companies that shift jobs overseas.

Obama focused on economic issues during his visit to Newton, a town of about 15,000 dealing with the loss of nearly 2,000 jobs due to the closure of a Maytag plant and offices. The appliance manufacturer based in Newton was bought last year by rival Whirlpool Corp.

"While it's not possible to stop globalization in its tracks, what we can do is make sure we have a government that's looking out for our workers," Obama said. "We can do more to create a government that's creating quality jobs here in America, and we can do more to create a government that's helping workers who lose their jobs."

In Newton, Obama spoke before about 300 people and promised to increase federal grants and job training programs to communities dealing with job losses.

Later, Obama visited Ottumwa, a blue-collar town in eastern Iowa that has endured changes in the meatpacking industry. More than 700 people jammed into a high school gymnasium to hear his speech.

[tbweb]

JGDunn1,,,

In fairness, while Cisco is a Tech company, Cisco is known and famous for world-class Internet Routers and as such the nature of Cisco's business does not really lend itself to being outsourced to India. The bulk of outsourced IT work to India is new Application Development and Programing.

[jgdunn1]

Actually, the memo was incorrect in one key area. Not all tech companies are laying people off in the US to send their jobs to India. I work for Cisco and we've hired almost 8000 people in the US in the last two years. The Obama campaign should get their facts straight.

[tbweb]

infidel_us,,,

There is a school of thought that claims things take on the surroundings and nature of their birth. The theft of the 2000 Election from Gore was one the ugliest political events in U.S. History and had more to do with in your face corruption than voter skills. The bad omen of that election is in our face in return with Iraq, 3531 dead, 34,650 wounded, 5 Trillion added to National Debt, bin Laden still loose, Amnesty push for illegal Mexicans, illegal wiretaps, lost of World Prestige, outing CIA Agents, Lost Emails, Hurricane Katrina, Enron, WorldCom, Scooter in Jail & die hard support for the AG after firing US Attorneys! Plus a lot more!...

[infidel_us]

I think since Al Gore was robbed of his rightful win by corrupted e-voting machines
Posted by veteran71 at 07:26 PM : Jun 19, 2007

LOL - More like incompetent democrat welfare voters who were/are too stupid to punch a ballot.

Can anyone say, "Macaca"? I knew you could! :)

[brianbwb-2009]

to tbweb,

You got it right, except the part about India destroying the IT in the US, we did that to ourselves, by being too greedy for profit to maintain IT training and support services here.

Outsourcing is just another facet of the neocon dream called "globalization" in which they can use slave labor in developing countries to boost their profit margins.

What they fail to see is that they are creating an America in which no one can afford their goods, thus destroying the largest market today. Ford Motor jacks up car prices, lays off its workers, moves the factories to S.E. Asia, then is puzzled as to why sales are dropping.

"Neocon disconnect syndrome", I call it...

[tbweb]

The only mistake made was attaching (D-Punjab) to Clinton%u2019s name, everything else done was correct! Anyone following the India IT Industry knows India almost single handily destroyed the U.S. IT industry via outsourcing. Moving U.S. IT Help Desk to India where most of the time you can not even understand what they are saying is a major complaint. I don%u2019t have a problem with India%u2019s IT Industry supplying workers to address the U.S. shortage of IT personnel as long as the data and information stays in U.S. computers, but I do have a major problem with storing U.S. financial and Privacy Act Data in India%u2019s computers. It%u2019s one thing to have India%u2019s IT people work and program U.S. IT systems but yet another to have India keep U.S. data and information on India%u2019s computers, 2 different issues and U.S. Business is realizing this mistake and starting to fix it due to customer complaints. Sen. Clinton (D-NY) investments in India%u2019s IT Industry and taking political contributions from India%u2019s Politicians should raise eyebrows and make you wonder if this trend will continue and expand in the future if she wins, I personally don%u2019t like the link! This is another case where 20% of a story in wrong, 80% is right, but since 20% is wrong the entire 100% is wrong, NOT! I agree with Sen. Obama, D-Ill. in this case and he made another mistake because he should have just apologized for the (D-Punjab) attachment %u201Conly%u201D and left it at that!

[brianbwb-2009]

to veteran71,

You are right, Gore was robbed, but think for a moment, his signature as was all that was necessary to launch an investigation that could have given him what he spent tens of millions of dollars to achieve, and us what we voted for.

He chose to throw all that money away. Our money. The campaign contributions from the companies is a business expense factored into the pricing of their products, so we end up paying it.

I believe Gore, and probably others, knew what was coming, and that he could not stop it, more powerful people than he are really in control. He didn't want to be on his conscience, so he conveniently ducked out. Bush has no conscience.

Al Gore always was the "reluctant politician", only in it to continue the "family business", a father like Gore Sr. could be hard for a son to say no to.

[pwrslm]

Mr. Bloomberg said the presidential candidates were exploiting the threat of terrorism, and failing to deliver solutions to problems such as illegal immigration, health care, and education.

"I think that none of them are addressing those issues," the mayor said during an exchange with reporters after the Google talk. "The press really is not doing its job of holding their feet to the fire. ... The tough questions are not what are you in favor of, but how are you going to get it through Congress?"


fishing with rocks doesnt really catch anything but rock heads....

[realpatriot1]

Spectrum108,

I'm going to give some thought to what you've had to say. Thanks.

[realpatriot1]

Veteran71,

That's a candidacy I could get excited about.

[realpatriot1]

FARTKNOCKER2=IDIOT

[realpatriot1]

Spectrum08,

I don't question that Senator Clinton has international clout but guess what..whoever wins will instantly have international clout.

If you want to go with the candidate with the best international track record, that would be Bill Richardson.

I may end up supporting Senator Clinton in the ned, but not enthusiastically. I hope it doesn't come to that.

However, I don't want to "drink the koolaid" for any of these cats just yet.

[donnie900]

Ban pooontang.

[donnie900]

Ban massygony.

[iceman_1960]

"President Hitlery Clinton would be the single greatest disaster America could ever have."
- Posted by GunOwnerDan at 04:39 PM : Jun 19, 2007

Bad mouthing a dedicated gun owner like her ?

She goes duck hunting, too.

(Unlike Dubya. That dog won't hunt.)

[a-ji]

Senator Obama is too good to be true.

[realpatriot1]

Spectrum108,

I respectfully disagree with your assessment of Hillary.

Although the polls clearly indicate that she is the one Democrat who does not beat every Republican head-to-head, the poll that matters to me is the many Democrats I know who can't stand her or the Republicans.

I think it's clear by the way that the MSM is pushing her that she's who the Republicans want to run against. They have so much dirt to bring up on her it isn't funny...and some of it is legitimate.
Ken Starr was part of a avst right wing conspiracy but they aren't responsible for pardoning Marc Rich, stealing White House furniture, travelgate,FBI filegate. Both she and the right wing conspiracy are responsible for the failure of national healthcare reform.

I don't think we need to treat our candidates like they're some kind of Gods because they aren't. That sticking by Bush and "thou shalt not say anything against another Republican" nonsense hasn't worked all that well for them and I don't think it will work for us.

My advice is to expect more from all of them. Otherwise, you won't get any better than what we already have.

[gunownerdan]

President Hitlery Clinton would be the single greatest disaster America could ever have.

[donnie900]

Ban muffdive'n.

[jolsonbear]

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