Democrat Shoots Self in Foot!
Well, as if the campaign trail for the Democrats wasn’t already littered with bodies who’ve created embarrassments to their respective candidates, another biggie has been added to the list.
Yesterday, Mark Penn, former chief strategist for Hillary Clinton, stepped aside from his role. He will remain as an “advisor”.
Hillary’s campaign manager Maggie Williams issued a statement Sunday saying the action comes after what she referred to as “the events of the last few days” and added that Penn will continue to provide polling and advice for the campaign.
So what did Penn do to embarrass his candidate? Well, first you have to understand that Penn has other jobs besides Hillary. Penn is CEO of public relations giant Burson-Marsteller. He is also president of his own political consulting firm, Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates.
In his capacity as CEO of Burston-Marsteller, Penn acknowledged Friday that he had met with the Colombian ambassador to the United States earlier in the week to discuss the pending U.S. and Colombia trade pact, that President Bush is trying to finalize.
There’s a bit of an uproar over this, because as part of her campaign, Clinton has stated that she’s opposed to the trade agreement. OOPS!
Seems that Penn further screwed himself by announcing that the meeting was “an error in judgment that will not be repeated,” and apologized. That prompted Columbia’s government to fire Burson-Marsteller on Saturday, stating that the remarks demonstrated ”a lack of respect to Colombians.”
Poor Mark Penn! I thought people in public relations were supposed to be tactful. Guess not! Think this might hurt his image in the PR field?
Well, Penn may continue as an advisor, but Clinton’s campaign is trying to distance from the entire fiasco, as quickly as possible. This is especially important, as Clinton has criticized Barack Obama for supposed leaks to the Canadians by his campaign that he is not as opposed to NAFTA as he has stated during the campaign.
Campaign backers agreed Sunday that Penn had to go. Maggie Williams immediately informed the media of the decision and stated that Geoff Garin and Howard Wolfson “will coordinate the campaign’s strategic message team going forward.”
Not a good week for Mark Penn. Not too great for Hillary either during the countdown to the Pennsylvania primary, as this may reflect poorly on her ability to select teammates, something she has criticized both President Bush and Barack Obama about. DARN!
Tags: Barack Obama, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Maggie Williams, Mark Penn, Pennsylvania primary, Politics, President Bush, Presidential primaryLeave a Reply
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