I can’t believe I missed this detail in the New York Times last week:

In a telephone interview Thursday, Mr. Obama said he had not been aware beforehand of the statement his campaign had put out Wednesday morning responding to the public demand by Howard Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton’s hard-driving senior communications adviser, that Mr. Obama denounce Mr. Geffen and return the money he had raised.
Mr. Obama said he had been on a red-eye flight, getting a haircut and taking his daughters to school as the fight broke out, and strongly suggested he had told his aides he wanted to stay above the fray.
“I told my staff that I don’t want us to be a party to these kinds of distractions because I want to make sure that we’re spending time talking about issues,” Mr. Obama said. “My preference going forward is that we have to be careful not to slip into playing the game as it customarily is played.”

Obama’s campaign didn’t clear their statement with the candidate? He had no idea this was going on?

(That’s a shame, since I thought “oh, give me a break, Geffen was once one of your best buds” was the quickest, best jab anyone had thrown at the Clintons in a long time.)

Kos is gloating. “Still, Obama didn’t smack down Gibbs private, he did so publicly, in about the highest-profile publication in the country (and its front page). That’s called “sending a message”.”

Smart Washington Guy pipes up: “Obama is either disconnected from the campaign or his own staff. More importantly, here’s a guy willing to throw one of his own people under the bus in the New York Times. He looks not ready for prime time.”

Alternate theory, with nothing to back it up right now: Obama wanted to take the shot, but not risk scuffing his Mr. Clean Messiah image, so he attributes the jab to those darn rogue staffers.