I think Obama showed he IS ready for primetime by how he handled this. Obviously he cannot control what Samantha Powers – a brilliant woman by any estimation – is going to say on her book tour. She's not a messaging person like Burton or Axelrod. And she definitely is not Obama himself. But Barack Obama did something he did not have to do and that's to remove her from the campaign. It proves that Barack Obama really is engaging in politics in a new way.

On the other hand, Howard Wolfson and Mark Penn issue insults on a daily basis – comparing Obama to Ken Starr, dismissing 40 states as significant, etc. And they're still trusted advisers.

I gather Power was no ordinary advisor, but very close to Obama…Condi Rice to Obama's Bush. This was a major hit…and, significantly, a self-inflicted one.

Obama does have a chief foreign policy wonk – and her name is Rice, but not Condi. Powers was a second tier adviser. What about the likes of Wolfson, Penn and Shaheen in the Clinton campaign?

I was not making a point about academic liberalism so much as academia in general (having spent years in it myself). It is a sheltered environment. Clinton's folks are streetwise, in a way Power clearly wasn't.

For example, Power has made bizarro comments before…as at Berkeley where she suggested US military action in Palestine to create a Palestinian state against Israel.

As you note…people can do and say all kinds of things in academe — unless it is not politically incorrect, of course, which consigns one to damnation — and as long as you have tenure you are protected.

As Jillmz notes, as someone with journalistic experience, a figure in the political sphere/public eye should know better. Obama does not need “own goals”.

No? Yes? What do you think?

Wow, mwp, what are the odds of finding someone who actually inked a ballot for both Fritz and Mike! I hoped you made copies of those….those are worth some serious dough to collectors!

Seriously, if you made the trip to the polls under those fruitless situations, you owe it to yourself to keep that track record unblemished. Write in Dodd, Biden or Richardson, but do not not vote.

I'm not a particularly big Obama fan, and I've never been anti-Hillary. I was undecided for a long time. But if she doesn't quit saying the Republican candidate is more qualified than the front-running Democratic candidate, I'm going to refuse to vote for her if she's the candidate in November. It confirms everything her detractors have been saying about her — that the only thing that motivates her is her own ambition, and she'll take her party down with her in a heartbeat. I've voted D in every presidential election since McGovern, but Hillary's only getting one more chance from me — one more “McCain and I have passed the Commander-in-chief threshold, but I don't know about Obama.” If she does it again and she'd the nominee, I'll skip the presidential vote altogether in November.

An important point here is that this will contribute to the view…among the party establishment…that the Obama movement is “not ready for prime time”.

It was a freshman mistake.

Can you imagine the body blow to the Democrats in October…say Obama were the nominee…and one of his key advisors from academia (where smug sneers at the GOP and “war heroes” are, after all, de rigueur)… made a mocking crack about McCain being a “hero” and tortured in the Hanoi Hilton.

The GOP is holding sessions for its officials on Message Discipline, on issues of race and gender.

Will the Obama team get the message?

My hope is that she abd Obama will keep in touch.