President Barack Obama has admitted using misleading TV ads in his no-holds-barred race for victory in November.
The passive-voice admission came during a low-key Sept. 23 interview with CBS, when he answered a question about many political advocates using what CBS called “nasty or negative ads.”
“Do we see sometimes us going overboard in our campaign — are there mistakes that are made or areas where there’s no doubt that somebody could dispute how we are presenting things? You know, that happens in politics,” Obama replied.
But he defended his ads, saying he believes they give people “a good sense of where I want to take the country and where Gov. Romney takes the country.”
“Most of the time we’re having a vigorous debate about a vision for the country and there’s a lot at stake in this election,” Obama said. “So is it going to be sharp sometimes? Absolutely.”
“The stakes are high,” Obama said.
Obama’s use of the passive voice, rather than a direct statement allows him to soften the impact of his admission, and push the blame elsewhere.
In recent weeks, Obama’s campaign and his allies have released many controversial ads, which included suggestions or claims that Romney was responsible for a woman’s death by cancer, exported jobs to China, is cheating on his taxes or plans to raise taxes on middle-class Americans.
However, he and his allies have faced little push-back from the established media, such as so-called “Fact Checkers,” few of whom have the social clout or media reach to sway voters bombarded by Obama’s questionable messages.
Obama’s admission came during interviews for a Sept. 23 edition of CBS’ “60 Minutes” show, but was it not broadcast by the network.
Instead, the videotaped admission is available on its website, which has comparatively few viewers.