Cleanup in Aisle 12: When Obama Answers for His Surrogates
From Cory Booker to Bill Clinton, Obama has been on damage control duty.
June 1, 2012 -- intro: At times in his presidency, Barack Obama has had to act like a janitor, cleaning up the mess spilled by people who work for him. Sometimes it's low-level spokespeople, and other times it's his vice president.
Here's a run down the aisle of the allies who have prompted Obama to control the unforced damage.
quicklist: 2title: Bill Clintontext: Job: Husband of Hillary Clinton, former president
What he did wrong: Said Mitt Romney is "a man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold" to be president.
What Obama said: Romney's business record "is what this campaign is going to be about."
What Obama wishes he could do: Revoke White House visiting privileges
media:16448793
quicklist: 1title: P.J. Crowleytext: Job: Profuse spokesman at the State Department
What he did wrong: Publicly criticized the way the government was treating Bradley Manning, the soldier detained for allegedly providing classified documents to WikiLeaks
What Obama said: Obama was actually asked about Crowley's comments at a press conference. Obama said he'd asked the Pentagon whether Manning's detention was appropriate, and that the Pentagon said the terms were meeting basic standards.
What happened: Crowley resignedmedia: 16407095
quicklist: 2title: Hilary Rosentext: Job: Democratic strategist, working mom
What she did wrong: Insulted Ann Romney for not having a job.
What Obama said: Being a mom is the toughest job, and "anybody who would argue otherwise, I think, probably needs to rethink their statement."
What happened: Rosen apologized
media: 16407083
quicklist: 3title: Cory Bookertext: Job: Snow shoveler, impromptu firefighter, mayor of Newark
What he did wrong: Said Obama's anti-Mitt Romney ads about the presumptive Republican nominee's Bain Capital experience made him "uncomfortable."
What Obama said: Romney's role at Bain "is not a distraction. This is what this campaign is going to be about."
What happened: Booker talked with the Obama campaign and then published a video more on message with the talking points.
media: 16407069
quicklist: 4title:Ben LaBolttext: Job: Mouthpiece for Obama
What he did wrong: Said Booker hadn't spoken with the campaign before making that video; Booker said he had spoken with the campaign.
LaBolt says he didn't speak inaccurately, because while a Democratic official did speak to Booker, the official didn't ask Booker to make the video.
What Obama said: Nothing.
media: 16406987
quicklist: 5title: Joe Bidentext: Job: Vice president, Amtrak spokesman
What he did wrong: Endorsed gay marriage
What Obama said: He endorsed gay marriage
What happened: See above
media: 16407049
Related Stories
ABC News Live