Friday, March 9, 2007
Karl Rove Calls Obama the 'A-Word'
Only two months after a rival to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama did it, presidential adviser Karl Rove used the "a-word" Thursday when describing the U.S. senator from Illinois: articulate.
"He's charismatic, he's articulate, he's a very strong figure on the national stage," Rove told a crowd at an event planned by the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. "But something tells me that people are going to say (they want) experience and depth. As a result it's going to be, 'Can he live up to the standards?"'
Articulate seems to be a word following Obama, a black, first-term Illinois senator. U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a Democratic presidential hopeful, described Obama to the New York Observer in January as, among presidential candidates, "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." Biden later apologized for his remarks.
President Bush also referred to Obama as "an attractive guy, he's articulate" during a January interview on Fox News Channel.
While Biden's comments came as a descriptor to Obama's race, Rove used the term as describing Obama as a candidate as Bush used it to describe him as a person. After the Biden remarks, Obama cautioned that they could be taken as disparaging toward previous black presidential candidates, including Carol Moseley Braun, Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
A staffer with Obama's campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
Only two months after a rival to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama did it, presidential adviser Karl Rove used the "a-word" Thursday when describing the U.S. senator from Illinois: articulate.
"He's charismatic, he's articulate, he's a very strong figure on the national stage," Rove told a crowd at an event planned by the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. "But something tells me that people are going to say (they want) experience and depth. As a result it's going to be, 'Can he live up to the standards?"'
Articulate seems to be a word following Obama, a black, first-term Illinois senator. U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a Democratic presidential hopeful, described Obama to the New York Observer in January as, among presidential candidates, "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." Biden later apologized for his remarks.
President Bush also referred to Obama as "an attractive guy, he's articulate" during a January interview on Fox News Channel.
While Biden's comments came as a descriptor to Obama's race, Rove used the term as describing Obama as a candidate as Bush used it to describe him as a person. After the Biden remarks, Obama cautioned that they could be taken as disparaging toward previous black presidential candidates, including Carol Moseley Braun, Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
A staffer with Obama's campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
