Obama: Helping old ladies across the street [View All]

[babylonsister]

Obama: Helping old ladies across the street

by Mark Silva

Sen. Barack Obama was asked today if he was concerned about admitting recently that one of his weaknesses is keeping a messy desk -- after all, what does that say about someone who hopes to run the country?

No, he suggested. But after hearing his rivals' answers to that debate question -- with Sen. Hillary Clinton calling her weakness an impatience about moving the country forward, and with former Sen. John Edwards calling his weakness being too passionate about poor people -- Obama said maybe he should have said: Helping old ladies across the street.

The senator from Illinois figured people were looking for an answer, not "spin'' -- he said in an interview with National Publc Radio's Melissa Block this evening on All Things Considered.

"You did say the other night in the debate, when you were asked about your greatest weakness, you confessed to a certain lack of organization,'' Block asked Obama. "You said your desk and your office are not pretty things and you need good staff around you. Do you think that may be the wrong message to be sending to voters?''

"It was interesting,' Obama replied. "I guess I should have listened to the answers that Senator Edwards and Senator Clinton provided. I think John Edwards said that his biggest weakness was he was too passionate about helping poor people and Senator Clinton indicated she was too impatient to move the country forward.

"So I thought the question was what’s your biggest weakness as opposed to what your greatest strength is, disguised as a weakness. I should have said that I like to help old ladies across the street.'':spray:

"You want a redo on that?'' Block asked.

" No, I don’t actually,'' Obama replied. " You know, I think one of the hallmarks of our campaign is that I actually answer questions honestly and try not to engage in too much spin. ''

Transcript of NPR's interview at link:

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/01/obama_helping_old_ladies_acros.html#more