Politico: Samantha Powers Re-Joins Obama

[malik flavors]

Samantha Power re-joins Obama

By POLITICO STAFF

Samantha Power, the foreign-policy scholar who was banished from the Obama campaign for referring to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as a "monster" during the Democratic primaries, is working on President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team studying State Department personnel, operations and policy.

That’s potentially a little awkward because Clinton is scheduled to be designated Obama’s secretary of state early next week.

When Power resigned March 7 as a senior foreign policy adviser to the campaign, she said in a statement: “I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor, and purpose of the Obama campaign.”

Power, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her 2003 book “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,” had been quoted by the newspaper The Scotsman as saying Clinton "is a monster, too — that is off the record — she is stooping to anything.”

Power was close to Obama personally, so her return is not particularly surprising. Many of her friends thought it was a case of “when,” not “if.”

Power is a professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She was mentioned early on as a possibility for an administration appointment, but is not among the leading candidates for the top jobs.

More: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/16046.html

[tekisui]

1. Best news all week.

There won't be any awkwardness. They are all adults. They were playing primary politics for power, before. Obama won. Power on!

[lordcommander]

5. Ding Ding Ding !!!!

We have a winner.

[rvablue]

8. Amen and glad to read the rest of your post

I was a Hillary primary voter and I've been waiting and hoping that Samantha Powers would be in the administration.

Despite what some say about Hillary on DU, yes, they are both adults and I think they will work wonderfully together.

How exicting!!

[mkultra]

65. Powers has suplicated to Hillary

Its the only way she could help with this administration while Hillary is the pivot point.

[JTFrog]

84. Powers has supplicated to Hillary?

I think your PUMA is showing.


:eyes:

[mkultra]

89. only if by PUMA you mean intelligence

you must not be paying attention. Allow me to assist.

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE"

Here is my link to the internet. This is where i get all my facts. Give it a shot.

[JTFrog]

90. Take your assist and blow it out your IEXPLORE.EXE.

I can't tell if you're really that stupid or just pretending.

[Cosmic Charlie]

16. it seems so easy for those who demeaned Obama in the Primary, calling him unqualified,

to just forget what they did and say "oh, we didn't really mean it"

of course Hillary meant every word of it.

If she didn't, she has no integrity.
If she did, she has no business in this Administration.

You know why Obama doesn't have to be all apologetic and say "I didn't mean what I said, it was just Politics"?
Because he ran an honorable campaign...

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

86. About time.

[ClarkUSA]

2. Great news.

Powers was only telling the fugly truth, after all. :fugly:

[Whalestoe]

3. Redheads for Obama, baby!

[Captain Hilts]

10. Count Mookie in on that one!

Washington, PHenry, Jefferson, Madison, Churchill, Shakespeare, KHepburn...

[DemFromMem]

4. Good move.

[glowing]

6. Whew... I feel much better now..

[goclark]

7. Good news ~ I've heard she is extremely smart

and a terrific person.

[elleng]

9. AND a friend of

Wes Clark!

[goclark]

60. Fantastic!

[FrenchieCat]

11. Love Her!

[BeyondGeography]

12. Good to hear; I'm sure Barack never stopped valuing her

and she'll have plenty of access, no matter what her title ends up being.

[TeamJordan23]

13. Hillary is going to have to get over it. nm

[polichick]

14. Great - I didn't think she should have been fired in the first place.

[Whisp]

15. yay,yay! and yay!!!, was wishing she'd be back. nt

[Upton]

17. Obama should make Powers SoS and dump the monster.

[Ozma]

38. What a kick in the ass for Hillary!

O I love it!

[brianna69]

18. This is fantastic news

[riverwalker]

19. YES! YES! YES!

best news yet!

[RollWithIt]

20. Great to see the unity on both sides of the primary fight....

At least among the actual teams. Still some on the internet want to never let it go, but Obama has.

[AtomicKitten]

21. Power is a brilliant, classy woman who was exiled for her candid unvarnished remark.

Glad to see her still in the mix. Obama can count on her.

[Tom Rinaldo]

23. I don't think her remark was candid and unvarnished

I think it was stilted and unatural. I think she was trying too hard to help the Obama campaign and blurted out something that exploited then current increasing netroots distrust of Clinton in some circles, because Obama was benefitting politically from that trend. I think her apology was much more of a natural reflection of who Samantha is. It was incredibly classy, taking full responsibility with no evasions and none of that "I'm sorry if anyone was offended" wishy washy crap.

Of course we are both speculating, but in any regard I am very pleased that she has been re-embraced in a public role by Obama. I think very highly of her.

[polichick]

25. Did the Clinton side ever apologize for anything?

[Tom Rinaldo]

27. I've moved past this type of dialog

I don't mean that in a snippy way. I'm not claiming to be a better person or better Democrat because of it, but I have no interest in revisiting the primary wars between Demorats now. Neither, it seems, does Obama.

[polichick]

30. Your post made me wonder about that. What Samantha Power said...

...was true, Hillary was behaving like a monster ~ her apology was good politics but not necessary.

[Tom Rinaldo]

31. I accepted her apology as her word

To my ear it did not have the ring of a political statement made out of necessity only. It struck me as sincere in a way not normally expressed by politicians. No doubt Samantha was having strong negative feelings about Hillary at that moment during that interview, but I think she quickly realized, almost instantly in fact, that those words if printed and read on paper far overstepped her true total feelings, she never would have chosen to summarize Hillary Clinton, either as a person or politician, in that way had she been only slightly more self reflective. Not just for narrow poltical expedience reasons, but because of what she actually said in her apology.

I thought that then and I think that now. I don't care if you or someone else views it differently. It doesn't matter to me anymore. I am glad to see that Samantha is back on board. And I support Barack Obama in his decision to appoint Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, John Kerry or anyone else of his chosing as Secretary of State.

[polichick]

32. Well, I wish that kind of decency had gone both ways...

If it had I would be more enthusiastic about a possible Hillary nomination.

[Tom Rinaldo]

35. From another thread...

One started by ProSense regarding a closely related story:

"Clinton's office declined to comment on Power's inclusion in the State Department transition, but an official close to the Obama transition team said Power had "made a gesture to bury the hatchet" with Clinton and that it had been well-received."

Is that accurate? Who knows? But the source supposedly was in the Obama, not Clinton camp. If Hillary Clinton already knows that she is about to become Secretary of State, then one could view her positive reaction to burying a past hatchet as an example of decency going both ways.

[atimetocome]

87. Yes, seems it is going both ways. Thanks for the post.

[Name removed]

44. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[polichick]

47. "Monster" is a tame term for the way Hillary behaved...

Where are Hill's apologies for all the nasty stuff she said about Barack ~ things that were later used in Republican ads? Has there been a single apology out of that camp?

[Beacool]

52. It was a campaign, she was his opponent and they both said enough things about each other.

Hillary doesn't need to apologize for anything.

;)

[polichick]

57. But Samantha Power should apologize for telling the truth?? LOL

[Beacool]

59. The truth according to the Obama fans.

Not everyone thinks like all of you. To the average person it was an inappropriate comment.

:shrug:

[polichick]

62. But Clinton's monstrous behavior was fine? Hillary sycophants are ridiculous.

[Beacool]

70. Sycophants? Interesting, I was about to use that word

with regard to the Obama supporters, but I decided to change it to the milder "fans". There was nothing wrong with Hillary's behavior during the primaries. The fake outrage of the Obama sycophants (see I can use the word too) was way out of proportion to any deed of either Clinton. Some of you have either not much campaign experience or are being disingenuous.

:eyes:

[polichick]

82. One of the things that was so inspiring about Obama is that he didn't trash his opponents...

...Hillary praised McCain and trashed Barack, even bringing up the idea of assassination over and over and allowing her husband to play the race card ~ there certainly was something wrong with her behavior. It was sick.

She doesn't deserve a job in his administration, but I won't be surprised if Obama decides to keep his enemies close.

[AtomicKitten]

26. I like her very much too, but disagree with you on her remark.

She said she intended the remark to be off the record, but the "journalist" that leaked it cut her no slack. Her remark was a direct gut response to the nasty campaign Clinton was running, and her gracious retraction of the remark political protocol.

I am very pleased that she is still in the mix. She is brilliant and a terrific asset to PE Obama.

[Tom Rinaldo]

28. I'll agree to disagree on the past...

while celebrating this excellent news with you.

[AtomicKitten]

29. It is wonderful news indeed, on that we agree. n/t

[chimpymustgo]

69. Tom, YOU'RE a class act. I'll leave it at that.

[TheWraith]

61. Uh, you're completely wrong.

Powers made it clear at the time she made the remark that it was supposed to be off the record, i.e. that it wasn't supposed to be seen by anybody. She wasn't trying to do anything for the Obama campaign, she was making a personal observation.

[jenmito]

22. K&R! That's GREAT! And this shows Obama really IS the boss and won't cave to

ANYBODY. He wants who HE wants. If any of them can't deal with that, they won't join HIS administration.

[Hope And Change]

24. This is great news.K & R!

[TheDonkey]

33. Finally some good news from Obama's appointments!

:bounce: Hopefully his team has come to their senses and starts injecting DC with new blood.

[ErinBerin84]

34. awesome!!

[blue_onyx]

36. Her "monster" statement was disgusting

But it's in the past. If Obama thinks she'll be an asset to his administration, then it's good she re-joined. We need the best to fix the mess Bush leaves behind.

[malik flavors]

40. Oh, come on. Calling someone a monster is so inoffensive in this day and age.

Maybe it was in bad taste, but I wouldn't call it "disgusting." It really wasn't that big of a deal.

[blue_onyx]

45. If Hillary or someone from her camp

had said it about Obama, most people on DU would have lost it. It was an inappropriate statement.

[atimetocome]

54. I agree.

[malik flavors]

88. I agree with you that people around here would have overreacted

But just speaking for myself, personally, I wouldn't have payed any attention to it.

I thought the whole thing was just silly.

[Upton]

42. Wasn't disgusting at all

In fact, considering the way Hillary ran her campaign, I thought it rather appropriate.

[AtomicKitten]

43. word

Power told the Scotsman newspaper that Clinton would stop at nothing to defeat Obama. "She is a monster, too," Power said in the interview. "She is stooping to anything." Power added that "the amount of deceit she has put forward is really unattractive."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/28/samantha-power-helping-ob_n_147027.html

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AtomicKitten]

50. no worries - Clinton used it as fodder for fundraising

Clinton's campaign seized on the remark, sending an e-mail to supporters telling them about the "monster" comment and asking for contributions to "show the Obama campaign that there is a price to this kind of attack politics."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/28/samantha-power-helping-ob_n_147027.html

[Beacool]

53. Well, good for her.

:)

[Hanse]

66. What's your opinion of John McCain and Sarah Palin?

Because they employed the same racist tactics.

[Beacool]

72. Oh please, that tired nugget again..............

Yeah I know, the Clintons are racists and so is anybody who would dare to question Obama on anything. Give me a break!!! I don't recall McCain crossing the line, Palin yes.

[Hanse]

75. So you admit Sarah Palin is racist?

What did she do that Clinton didn't do?

[Beacool]

76. No, I don't think that she's a racist.

I do think that Palin should have toned down her rhetoric because it incited some who were racists.

[Hanse]

77. Wow, you'll defend Sarah Palin too?

"I do think that Palin should have toned down her rhetoric because it incited some who were racists."

Are you familiar with a site called Hillaryis44?

[Beacool]

79. I'm not defending Palin, the woman is extremely uninformed

and was ill prepared to handle the vice presidency.

But, neither is everybody who opposed Obama a racist. That word was brandished far too frequently and it was used as a way to stifle any criticism of Obama. People were afraid to be perceived as being racists if they criticized Obama too strongly.

[blue_onyx]

48. I'll just restate what I replied to another response...

If Hillary or someone from her camp had said it about Obama, you would be pissed. Hillary said things I didn't like during the campaign (the McCain and I have a lifetime of experience statement, for example) but she is no monster.

[Beacool]

56. And I still think that Hillary was correct when she said it.

:shrug:

[Posteritatis]

80. It was - and as you say, it was a comment, singular

Even though I wasn't (and, to a point, still am) not that much of a Clinton fan, I was .. disappointed to say the least, since I respect her tremendously. I think she was disappointed too, which is why she seemed to leave the campaign rather than get thrown from it.

I'm really happy to see her working with the administration again, and I also hope the comment (which seems to be the only complaint about her) gets relegated to what it actually was - one nasty and unnecessary bit of snark said months ago.

[Catherine Vincent]

37. More than likely Senator Hillary probably suggested to PE Obama

to hire her back.

[Forkboy]

39. I'm sure that's just how it went down.

[CarbonDate]

81. Ha, ha. Good one. n/t

.

[madrchsod]

41. great news! she`s one of the best.....

i thought she`d never join the team because of what she wrote about bill and his role in rwanda.

obama`s picks so far are brilliant...

[Hutzpa]

49. YES ! n/t

[jesus_of_suburbia]

51. Hillary is very gracious to allow her to come back!

By the way, it's "Power", not "Powers".

[polichick]

58. LOL - I doubt Obama asked Hillary's permission.

[joshcryer]

63. But but but! Obama has lost control in allowing Clinton to force his hand and box him in.

Clinton is clearly in charge here!

[polichick]

64. Oh yeah, I forgot. ;)

[Forkboy]

55. I don't think Hillary is a monster at all, but in the world of politics being called one...

...is the equivalent of being hit with a ball of yarn. I think she can take it.

[IndianaGreen]

68. Has Hillary ever shown any empathy for the people of Gaza being starved by Israel?

She only sheds tears for AIPAC.

[Forkboy]

71. I don't know.

I know a lot of good people who have probably never shed a tear either. They aren't monsters, and I'm not really up to reducing the Middle East issue to simple caricatures that don't end up helping either side anymore.

[Colobo]

67. Good News for the Country!

[vanderBeth]

73. I like Obama pulling people from academia.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

74. Another good move by the O-man.

[EconomicLiberal]

78. This type of bitching and rehashing out primary fights is really getting fucking annoying.

Can we put that stuff behind us? Samantha Power is an excellent addition to Obama's transition team, and hopefully his administration.

[polichick]

83. Just ignore the threads you don't enjoy - it's easily done.

[mmonk]

85. Excellent.

I've been away a little and I come back to this. Very good.