Samantha Power

Poor Barack Obama.

This has been a rough week for him.

After his string of primary losses in Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island, he had to deal with the growing distraction of his adviser Samantha Power.

Rather than talking about issues he had to focus on her nasty remarks about Hillary Clinton.

Not that Obama would have been talking about issues anyway. I should say he had to answer questions about Power rather than delivering his empty change and hope rhetoric.

From The Scotsman:

Hillary Clinton has been branded a "monster" by one of Barack Obama's top advisers, as the gloves come off in the race to win the Democrat nomination.

In an unguarded moment during an interview with The Scotsman in London, Samantha Power, Mr Obama's key foreign policy aide, let slip the camp's true feelings about the former first lady.

Her comments came as Mr Obama, whose defeats in Texas and Ohio on Tuesday were largely attributed to a series of negative attacks on him, vowed to turn up the heat on Mrs Clinton over her claims to be the more experienced candidate.

Yesterday, the Obama camp went on the offensive, pointing out that Mrs Clinton has still not released her tax return and casting doubt on her experience.

In response, a Clinton adviser said the attack reminded him of the witch-hunt led by special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, which led to the impeachment of her husband, Bill, when he was president.

Earlier, clearly rattled by the Ohio defeat, Ms Power told The Scotsman Mrs Clinton was stopping at nothing to try to seize the lead from her candidate.

"We f***** up in Ohio," she admitted. "In Ohio, they are obsessed and Hillary is going to town on it, because she knows Ohio's the only place they can win.

"She is a monster, too – that is off the record – she is stooping to anything," Ms Power said, hastily trying to withdraw her remark.

Ms Power said of the Clinton campaign: "Here, it looks like desperation. I hope it looks like desperation there, too.

"You just look at her and think, 'Ergh'. But if you are poor and she is telling you some story about how Obama is going to take your job away, maybe it will be more effective. The amount of deceit she has put forward is really unattractive."

Ms Power's comments reveal how the inexperienced Obama campaign is coming under increasing pressure from a battle-hardened Clinton camp that saw Ohio as its last chance to save its candidate.

Power is a class act, isn't she? What a way to represent Obama!

It's interesting that Power's comments are chalked up to inexperience and pressure.

It's Obama in a nutshell: Inexperienced.

WASHINGTON -- A former adviser to Barack Obama who resigned Friday after calling rival Hillary Rodham Clinton "a monster" said Obama may not be able to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within a year as he has promised on the campaign trail.

Samantha Power, a Pulitzer Prize-winner author and unpaid adviser, made the comments in two separate interviews with foreign media while promoting her latest book. In a tight Democratic presidential campaign where attacks are becoming increasingly bitter, Power's comments ignited a flurry of accusations between the two candidates.

Clinton said it's hard to know what Obama's real positions are, while Obama insisted he will end the war in 2009 if elected and blamed Clinton for helping start it.

The comment that led to Power's resignation came in an interview with The Scotsman. "She is a monster, too — that is off the record — she is stooping to anything," the newspaper quoted her as saying. A few hours after the comments were published, Power, a Harvard professor, announced her resignation in a statement in which she said the remarks were inexcusable and contradictory to her admiration for Clinton.

Power told RTE, Ireland's public broadcast service, that she spoke with Obama by phone Friday and he "made it absolutely clear that we just couldn't make comments like this in his campaign."

Clinton's campaign sent 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."

...Power's resignation came a day after Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson compared Obama to former special prosecutor Kenneth Starr by criticizing Clinton. Starr's investigation led to Bill Clinton's impeachment, and he is an unpopular figure among Democratic voters.

"I for one do not believe that imitating Ken Starr is the way to win a Democratic primary election for president," Wolfson said.

Clinton told reporters Wolfson's criticism was different from the monster description because "one is an ad hominem attack and one is a historical reference."

She also said Wolfson's criticism "is a true statement."

Power was forced to resign and Obama had to apologize for the comments of one of his top advisers.

Anyway you look at it, it's another embarrassment for Obama.