Obama Apologizes for D-Punjab

Barack Obama just released an apology on the website of the South Asian Obama supporters who have been expressing dismay about his camapign's
"D-Punjab" memo attacking Hillary Clinton for her business interests in an Indian billing company.

"In sum, our campaign made a mistake. Although I was not aware of the contents of the memo prior to its distribution, I consider the entire campaign - and in particular myself - responsible for the mistake. We
have taken appropriate action to prevent errors like this from happening in the future."

With this, the campaign hopes to put the whole mess behind them.

Here's the text of the letter.

I wanted to respond personally to the concerns you expressed regarding
the recent research memo that our campaign put into circulation.

I believe that your concerns with the memo are justified. To begin
with, the memo did not reflect my own views on the importance of
America's relationship with India. I have long believed that the best
way to promote U.S. economic growth and opportunity for American
workers is to continually improve the skills of our own workforce and
invest in our own scientific research, technological capacity and
infrastructure, rather than to try to insulate ourselves from the
global economy.

More importantly, the memo's caustic tone, and its focus on
contributions by Indian-Americans to the Clinton campaign, was
potentially hurtful, and as such, unacceptable. The memo also ignored
my own long-standing relationship to - and support from - the
Indian-American community.

In sum, our campaign made a mistake. Although I was not aware of the
contents of the memo prior to its distribution, I consider the entire
campaign - and in particular myself - responsible for the mistake. We
have taken appropriate action to prevent errors like this from
happening in the future.

Please feel free to share this letter with other members of your
organization or leaders in the Indian-American community. I look
forward to our continued friendship and exchange of ideas - during the
course of this campaign, and beyond.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama