Obama Checking In On Aide Who Resigned

Newark Mayor Cory Booker offered support for recently-resigned Obama aide Samantha Power, saying that her resignation came after "a monstrous course of events, no pun intended," and a bit of backhanded journalism.

Speaking to the website Big Think, the rising Democratic politico and Obama supporter said he thought Power, who left the campaign after calling Sen. Hillary Clinton a political monster, was right to resign, even though her comments were being slightly overblown.

"If you go through the whole interview," said Booker, "the reporter not even letting her know she was being recorded, it was just a very horrible perfect storm. A monstrous course of events, no pun intended."

Booker praised Obama for the way he handled the situation, saying that the Illinois senator had been calling up Power in the days following her gaffe, checking in on her, and making sure she was okay. The irony, he added, was that before Power made her remark, she had been entirely complimentary of Clinton.

"She is on the record way before saying positive things about her and her husband," said the mayor. "But this one reporter was able to pull and twist and prod before this came out. And by the way, she had flown an all nighter, she had done nine interviews, she was tired as all heck when she said this."

"She's beating herself up and I've been there before," he added. "So I've told her to... assert your core, just go out and continue to be authentically yourself. The truth of who you are will always emerge.... And she will emerge from this as a Pulitzer Prize winning, courageous author, a world changer after this."

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Read a HuffPost blog by Barack Obama