Obama's Nasty Habit of Blaming Subordinates

One of the marks of a truly lousy leader is publicly placing blame on their subordinates. In most cases the subordinate is being blamed unfairly, and even when the staff is at fault, publicly shifting the blame reflects an unwillingness to shoulder any responsibility.

According To ABC's Jake Tapper, Obama Has Blamed His Staff On At Least 14 Occasions. "So, for those keeping track at home, that's ten instances of Obama publicly blaming his staff for various screw-ups. ... (You of course could also add Austan Goolsbee, Samantha Power, Gordon Fischer, and retired Gen. Tony McPeak.) That would be 14. We will continue to keep track." (Jake Tapper, "Obama's Inability To Hire Good Help Rears Its Head ... Again," ABC's "Political Punch" Blog, blogs.abcnews.com, 5/12/08)

Senator Barack Obama has a bad habit of shifting the blame. How does he intend to bear the burden of the leadership of the free world, if he is to weak to shoulder any responsibility. Just look at some of these examples below:

• During His Senate Campaign, Obama Blamed A Staff Member For Not Denouncing Yasir Arafat:

Obama Failed To Denounce Yasir Arafat On A Campaign Questionnaire. "During the Senate campaign, Mr. Obama joined in a 'Walk for Israel' rally along Lake Michigan on Israel Solidarity Day. The Crowns and other Jewish leaders raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for him. Several days before the primary in 2004, some of his Jewish supporters took offense that Mr. Obama had not taken the opportunity on a campaign questionnaire to denounce Yasir Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, or to strongly support Israel's building of a security fence." (Jo Becker and Christopher Drew, "Pragmatic Politics, Forged On The South Side," The New York Times, 5/11/08)" In An E-Mail Message, Mr. Obama Blamed A Staff Member For The Oversight, And Expressed The Hope That 'None Of This Has Raised Any Questions On Your Part Regarding My Fundamental Commitment To Israel's Security.'" (Jo Becker and Christopher Drew, "Pragmatic Politics, Forged On The South Side," The New York Times, 5/11/08)

• Obama Blamed A Staff Member For Filling In Liberal Answers To A Survey In 1996:

"The Obama Campaign Tells Politico That The Questionnaire Was Not Filled Out By Obama Himself, But Rather By His Campaign Manager At The Time..." (Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence, "Will 'Liberal Views' Come Back To Haunt Obama?" USA Today's "On Politics" Blog, blogs.usatoday.com, 12/11/07)

Washington State Chairman For Obama, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) Claimed Answers To Questions Were Different Than Positions Obama Holds. Rep. Smith: "That was a questionnaire filled out in his first state senate campaign back 1996 not by Senator Obama but by somebody on his staff who didn't get it cleared. You look at his record and what he said about even those issues in that campaign in '96, on capital punishment, on health care, on gun issues and they are different than what was put down in that questionnaire." (MSNBC's "Super Tuesday," 12/11/07)

Obama Has Blamed His Staff For Other Mistakes:

• Obama Blamed His Research Team For Releasing The Memo Calling Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) A Senator From Punjab. "'It was a screw-up on the part of our research team,' Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, said during a meeting today with Des Moines Register editors and reporters. 'It wasn't anything I had seen or my senior staff had seen.'" (Thomas Beaumont, "Obama: Campaign's 'Punjab' Remark Was 'Stupid'," The Des Moines Register, 6/18/07)

• Obama Blamed His Staff For Not Being Able To Attend The International Association Of Fire Fighters In New Hampshire. "Barack Obama threw his staff under the proverbial bus last Friday during his call-in with leaders of the International Association of Fire Fighters in Portsmouth. 'My staff had already scheduled some things and they couldn't wiggle out of it,' he said, according to CNN. 'They heard from me a little bit because I wasn't happy I couldn't be there personally.'" (John DiStaso, "Richardson Puts Together His NH Team," The [Manchester] Union Leader, 5/17/07)

• Obama blamed his staff for the answers on a position paper endorsing a state ban on the sale and possession of handguns in Illinois. Obama responded, "No, my writing wasn't on that particular questionnaire. As I said, I have never favored an all-out ban on handguns."Actually, Obama's writing was on the 1996 document, which was filed when Obama was running for the Illinois state Senate. A Chicago nonprofit, Independent Voters of Illinois, had this question, and Obama took hard line:

35. Do you support state legislation to:
a. ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns? Yes.
b. ban assault weapons? Yes.
c. mandatory waiting periods and background checks? Yes.

Obama's campaign said, "Sen. Obama didn't fill out these state Senate questionnaires--a staffer did--and there are several answers that didn't reflect his views then or now. He may have jotted some notes on the front page of the questionnaire, but some answers didn't reflect his views."FactCheck.org analysis of 2008 Philadelphia primary debate Apr 16, 2008