Is Barack Obama an economic nationalist?
All week long, the Indian blogosphere has been up in arms about a research memo circulated by the Obama campaign last Thursday that sharply attacked Hillary Clinton for her ties to India. A community that remembers Macaca-gate all too well was quick to see racial undertones in the memo. Obama has since attempted to thoroughly disassociate himself from the memo, saying it wasn’t reviewed by senior staff, shouldn’t have singled out India and Indians, was unnecessarily “caustic” and a “dumb mistake.” Some bloggers have questioned whether the explanation that senior staff hadn’t reviewed the memo holds up in light of early comments made by Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama, and David Axelrod, the campaign’s “chief strategist,” before Obama started disclaiming responsibility. No matter how sincerely one takes his apology, the incident reflects poorly on his campaign. But after reading the memo, what struck me was not so much the question of race, but the intensity of the attempt to trash H
