While I suppose it's possible for Barack Obama to have not known that his senior economic adviser Austan Goolsbee was telling the Canadian government, it is rather disconcerting to see him denying that any conversation took place so emphatically, now that both the Canadian consulate and Goolsbee are no longer denying the conversation.
Obama, to an Ohio NBC affiliate, asked about the report on Canadian television that his adviser had assured the Canadian government that his comments were just campaign rhetoric:
Obama: I don't have to clarify it, the Canadian Embassy already clarified it by saying that the story is not true. Our office has said the story is not true. It's important for viewers to understand that it was not true.
Obama, to an Ohio NBC affiliate, asked about the report on Canadian television that his adviser had assured the Canadian government that his comments were just campaign rhetoric:
Obama: I don't have to clarify it, the Canadian Embassy already clarified it by saying that the story is not true. Our office has said the story is not true. It's important for viewers to understand that it was not true.
Anchor: So, completely inaccurate, did not happen, end of discussion.
Obama: It did not happen.
If Goolsbee called up the Canadians without letting Obama or anyone else on the campaign know he was doing this, it doesn't speak well of him — or for Obama to surround himself with advisers who feel comfortable assuring other countries that the candidate doesn't mean what he says. (Clearly, Goolsbee got the idea that Obama didn't mean what he was saying from somewhere; doesn't it seem likely he came to this conclusion after discussions with Obama about trade policy?) If Obama did know that he was speaking to the Canadians, he just let out a blatant lie on par with, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."
If Goolsbee called up the Canadians without letting Obama or anyone else on the campaign know he was doing this, it doesn't speak well of him — or for Obama to surround himself with advisers who feel comfortable assuring other countries that the candidate doesn't mean what he says. (Clearly, Goolsbee got the idea that Obama didn't mean what he was saying from somewhere; doesn't it seem likely he came to this conclusion after discussions with Obama about trade policy?) If Obama did know that he was speaking to the Canadians, he just let out a blatant lie on par with, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."
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