A Convenient Lights Out for Obama

ABC News’ David Wright Reports: When someone accidentally shuts off the lights in the middle of a candidate’s one public event of the day, it’s generally not a good thing. 

Today may have been the exception. 

During a roundtable on foreign policy issues in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Democratic hopeful Barack Obama was in mid-sentence when the lights went out.  Just as he brought up his plan to phase out incandescent light bulbs.

And as he touted the idea that encouraging more energy efficient bulbs would help reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil – the back of the room plunged into darkness.

Apparently, someone in the crowd accidentally leaned on the light switch.  But the candidate didn’t miss a beat.

"You don’t have to turn out the lights right now," he joked.  "Notice my leadership capacity right there," he said to the crowd.  "People immediately felt guilty."

It was easily the most memorable moment of the more than 3 hour event. 

Most of the event consisted of Obama’s "highly decorated" team of advisor’s singing the candidate’s praises, presumably to quiet fears the Clinton campaign has raised about Obama’s judgment and experience. 

Former assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice gushed, describing her admiration for Obama’s intelligence, judgment, vision and temperament.  "I love the way he makes decisions," she said.  "He arrives at a decision and then moves forward."

Georgetown professor Anthony Lake, another former Clinton administration official, waxed on about Obama’s “wonderful blend of confidence and humility.”

Pulitzer Prize-winner Samantha Power described being so enraptured after her first discussion with Obama that she promptly offered to quit her job at Harvard and give up her shared season tickets to the Boston Red Sox.

The advisor’s spent so much time giving fawning testimonials, they left little time for questions from the audience.

As a result, the feel-good event shed little new light on the candidate’s foreign policy goals. 

Not once, for instance, did Obama make any mention of today’s Middle East peace conference in Annapolis.