Excerpts of Excuses Made by Obama or his Representatives Throughout Campaign

Washington Post Article (02/22/2007)

Yesterday, however, David Geffen, the music and film producer who is one of the party's most prominent donors, made the fight more public. In an interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, Geffen said that Clinton is "the easiest to beat" of the Democratic field and skewered her unwillingness to apologize for her 2002 vote to use force in Iraq. "It's not a very big thing to say 'I made a mistake' on the war, and typical of Hillary Clinton that she can't," Geffen said...Geffen, who was a co-host of an Obama fundraiser Tuesday night in Los Angeles, saved even sharper criticism for former president Bill Clinton

Obama weighed in later. "It's not clear to me why I would be apologizing for someone else's remarks," he said in Iowa, where he had gone instead of the candidates forum because of a prior commitment. "My sense is that Mr. Geffen may have differences with the Clintons, but that doesn't really have anything to do with our campaign."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022100993.html

CNN News Article (05/11/2007)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, told New Hampshire firefighters Friday that he was frustrated his staff did not build into his travel schedule a personal appearance before their union meeting taking place in the coastal city of Portsmouth. Instead, the presidential hopeful had to address the IAFF and Federation of State and Provincial Firefighters Association this morning by telephone.

"I have to tell you, I wish I was there," Obama said over a speakerphone. "My staff had already scheduled some things and they couldn't wiggle out if it. They heard from me a little bit because I wasn't happy I couldn't be there personally."

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2007/05/obama-publicly-scolds-staff-for.html

ABC's Political Punch Article (Referring to Obama's 6/19/2007 Remarks to the Des Moines Register)

In his first public comments about the controversial opposition research his campaign prepared about Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, trying to tie her to outsourcing in India, Obama today blamed -- for the third time in 5 months -- his staff...The document in question linked Clinton and her husband to various companies that outsource American jobs to India, and included a headline that referred to Clinton as the Democratic senator from Punjab, a reference to a joke Clinton had made at a fundraiser.

"It was a screw-up on the part of our research team," Obama told the Des Moines Register. "It wasn't anything I had seen or my senior staff had seen." ( 6/19/2007)

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2007/06/obamas_staff.html

ABC's Political Punch (Referring to Obama's  10/27/2007 Remarks to The Advocate)

And in October, after Obama was joined on a South Carolina swing by gospel singer Donnie McClurkin who has struggled with his sexuality, and called homosexuality a "curse" that runs against "the intention of God," the Illinois senator blamed McClurkin's inclusion on...yep, that's right, you guessed it -- bad staffing.

McClurkin was "obviously, not vetted to the extent that people were aware of his attitudes with respect to gay and lesbians, LGBT issues -- at least not vetted as well as I would have liked to see," Obama told The Advocate

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2007/12/obama-the-buck.html

Tucker Carlson's Show (12/11/2007)

Tucker: "But we begin with the latest potential bump in Barack Obama`s road to the White House. His answers to a 1996 campaign questionnaire that paint him a surprisingly left of center. Joining me, a key Obama supporter, Democratic congressman from the state of Washington, Adam Smith..."

REP. SMITH (On Behalf of Obama Campaign): "And it`s not one that he holds. He does not support that. And I think when you look at this memo and the explanation has been clear. He didn`t fill it out and he did not support those positions then. The easy thing to do is, you know, Senator Obama has spoken about these issues many times other than in this one document and he has never supported the banning of handguns."

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