Barack Obama and Joe Biden stepped out of sync again Tuesday, as the Democratic presidential nominee criticized his running mate for voicing opposition to the government bailout of American International Group early last week.It was the second off-message moment for the Democratic team in two days. Biden had to ratchet back his own rhetoric Monday after an interview aired in which he called one of his own campaign ads "terrible."
The lack of harmony suggests the Obama team, for months a rancor-free institution, is running into the kind of message discipline problems that John McCain's campaign faced before he started to cut back his interaction with reporters.
The latest friction happened when Obama was asked on NBC's "Today Show" about why he criticized McCain for initially opposing a federal bailout of AIG when Biden was also speaking out against it.
"I think ... that in that situation, I think Joe should have waited, as well," Obama said. He was referring to Biden's interview with NBC last Tuesday in which he said, "I don't think (AIG) should be bailed out by the federal government."
That echoed McCain's comment the same day. But all the while Obama had stayed relatively mum on the crisis at AIG. He released a statement last Wednesday expressing his hopes for the rescue plans, but did not give a clear verdict on whether he supported the plan.
Having censured Biden for his remarks, Obama continued to criticize McCain Tuesday for initially opposing federal action on AIG. "(McCain) said the government should stand aside and allow one of the nation's largest insurers, AIG, to collapse," Obama said. " I think what has been clear during this entire past 10 days is John McCain has not had clarity and a grasp on the situation."
The internal static, however, was not quite as pronounced as when Biden denounced his own campaign's ad the day before. In an interview with CBS News, the Delaware senator took issue with an attack ad from his own side that criticized McCain for his lack of savvy when it comes to computers and e-mail. "I thought that was terrible by the way," Biden said. "I didn't know we did it and if I had anything to do with it, we would have never done it."
The McCain campaign pounced on the statement, and Biden later issued a clarification. "Having now reviewed the ad, it is even more clear to me that given the disgraceful tenor of Senator McCain's ads and their persistent falsehoods, his campaign is in no position to criticize," Biden later said, criticizing McCain for an ad accusing Obama of voting to teach kindergartners about sex. The Obama campaign has said the bill would help children avoid predators.
Biden also raised eyebrows two weeks ago when he said Hillary Clinton "might have been a better pick than me" to be Obama's running mate.
While Obama has worked intently to patch up the rifts between his campaign and supporters loyal to Clinton, he hasn't gone so far as to say Clinton would be a better running mate. Biden, however, told the audience at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire that Clinton "is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America."
He was responding to an audience member who criticized Clinton.