Power That Be

I have to admit that I was unfamiliar with Samantha Power, the Yalie and Harvard professor who was adviser to Obama on foreign policy.

The more I read about her, and about the episode that caused her to resign from his campaign, the more impressed I am with her. Of course, it was a mistake to refer to Her Royal Clinton-ness as a "monster"; no matter how monstrous some of her campaign's distortions, she is still recognizably human. At least most of the time. This was something for which Power should have been able to apologize and move on.

The other quote from her that the media are hammering, the one in which she said Obama will have to adapt his plan once he gets into office (so that his withdrawal intentions are subject to modification!), is really just common sense. His Iraq position still far outstrips any other candidate still in the race for its clarity and determination to end the occupation (except Ron Paul's; technically he is still running, though he's much more concerned about keeping his day job as a Texas Congressman these days).

The problem is that Obama maintains a higher moral plane for his campaign than Clinton, and those who want to be associated with it have to help maintain it. Far from being too nice to Obama, the media are holding him to it, and he is living up to it.

David Brooks says that "all Obama has is new politics". That's all he needs.

As for the awesome Power, I think she can easily be invited back to the future Obama Administration if she learns the rules for modern-day "Gotcha!" journalism and behaves herself accordingly.