Leon Panetta: “Mark Penn is Like Karl Rove”

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

In a stinging rebuke of Hillary Clinton’s top strategist Mark Penn, old Clinton loyalist, Leon Panetta compared Penn to Karl Rove.

In an interview with The Observer, Mr. Panetta suggested that the Clinton campaign had totally underestimated Barack Obama’s appeal and complained about the overall lack of planning that he said had characterized the former First Lady’s bid to return to the White House.

Mr. Panetta, who served as chief of staff in the White House from July 1994 to January 1997, and who has contributed $2000 to Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign, complained that Mr. Penn “is a political pollster from the past.”

”I never considered him someone who would run a national campaign for the presidency,” he said.

He asserted that Mr. Penn “comes from an old school, like Karl Rove—it’s all about dividing people into smaller groups rather than taking the broader approach that was needed.”

Referring to Barack Obama, he said, “I think he really captured early on this deep feeling in the country about needing change in Washington. And people have underestimated how deep that sense was, just how much people felt the need for change.”