‘Off the Record’ Comments Sometimes Aren’t

Journalists often give their interview subjects the benefit of the doubt when they slip up.

That wasn’t the case this week when Barack Obama foreign policy advisor Samantha Power stepped down from her unpaid position after being quoted as calling Hillary Clinton “a monster” in an interview with a reporter from Scotland’s The Scotsman newspaper. She was talking up her newly published book when she stepped on a political landmine, then tried to retroactively make her comment off the record.

Apparently the rules of engagement aren’t always clear – or aren’t always followed – when dealing with diplomats, either. Another Obama adviser got into trouble after comments about Obama being soft on the free trade issue were leaked to the media. The Canadian ambassador to the United States admits he spoke to the reporter who broke the story, but “he said what was discussed is private,” reports the Globe and Mail.

There’s a lesson to be learned here. The illusion of being on safe ground can vanish quickly if you say something inflammatory and newsworthy.