Granite Status: Barack Returns. Makes Amends

[illinoisprogressive]

Barack Obama returns tomorrow for a major policy speech at the Manchester campus of the New Hampshire Community Technical College.

The Illinois senator will be looking put the brakes on a New Hampshire slide that has seen him fall from 7 percentage points behind Hillary Clinton in April to 14 percentage points behind her in early June, according to UNH polls conducted for CNN and WMUR.

He arrives as he continues to try to patch up the damage his "unifier" image suffered as a result of the Clinton "Punjab" controversy.

His campaign's criticism of Clinton and reference to her as a representative of the Indian state hasn't been big news here, but hasn't gone unnoticed, either.

He offended a top Indian-American Granite Stater, but then moved quickly to apologize and try to end the controversy.

On Tuesday, Latha Mangipudi of Nashua, state chair of the US-India Political Action Committee, told us she was "disappointed" in Obama because "I have met him personally a few times. He came across very well and has a new approach to politics, which is uniting people." She said the campaign ploy seemed out of character.

She said that although he has apologized on his Web site, "It would be nice if he could sit down with" leaders of the Indian-American community.

"Don't stereotype us," Mangipudi said. "Not every Indian-American is there to outsource jobs."

Yesterday morning, we asked the Obama campaign for a response. A few hours later Mangipudi called us back to say she had just received a personal call from Obama.

"He was very courteous and very apologetic and took responsibility." she said, adding that as far as she's concerned, all is forgiven.

Obama spokesman Reid Cherlin said Obama meant to call Mangipudi on Tuesday and that his call was not prompted by our inquiry. Cherlin noted that Obama also has posted a statement taking responsibility for the "Punjab" memo.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=f998bd23-4301-4901-a330-209c44a6ab94&headline=Granite+Status%3a+Barack+returns