Obama supporters I've heard from are pissed -- really really pissed -- about Samantha Power's exit from the campaign. Yes, this is an unfortunate turn of events: Power, an anti-genocide expert critical of the Iraq War, is -- and I think will continue to be -- a key voice for change within the Democratic Party foreign policy establishment. But when you're a public figure known to have the ear of the leading presidential candidate, you can't go around calling your opponent a "monster" who is "willing to stoop," especially when your own candidate has built his campaign around bringing a unifying tone to American politics! Power said it best herself in her resignation statement: "I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor, and purpose of the Obama campaign." Those who claim the Clinton campaign was somehow out of line in publicizing and complaining about Power's comments have their heads in the sand. Power's comments promoted an awful stereotype of a female leader as someone who is inhumanly calculating, with no core beliefs. I know there are some Democrats out there who ascribe those very traits to Clinton. Many of those Democrats are men whose number one voting issue is foreign policy. Had an Obama health care or education adviser been forced to resign for calling Clinton a "monster," these folks wouldn't be up in arms, they'd chalk it up to politics as usual. But because it's Power, who is rightfully a darling of antiwar progressives, people are incensed. She represents for high-information Obama supporters the very reason why they adore their candidate: his promise of a paradigm shift in national security policy. Of course, it's very upsetting to see a female foreign policy leader pushed out from a place of prominence; there simply aren't many women who've risen to the top of that field. But Power made her own bed, and now Obama supporters will have to sleep in it. By resigning, she spared the campaign the difficulty of having to defend comments that are, at their core, indefensible. That doesn't mean the Clinton campaign has demonstrated no similar moments of perfidy -- far from it! But let's take a deep breath. Obama's foreign policy platform and his credibility on the issues won't be seriously hurt by Power's departure. --Dana Goldstein
