Samantha lied; people died.  Samantha Power, who was Obama's number one foreign policy expert during the campaign and who now serves on the National Security Council, was seeking the support of the Armenian community during the campaign, and made promises on his behalf, stating he could be trusted.

But the reason it's a worth noting is captured in this campaign video from Samantha Power, which made a big impression on Armenian-Americans, and in which she made the case that would bring "hard truth-telling" to the White House.

"What is amazing about Barack," she says, is, among other things, "his willingness as president to commemorate [the genocide] and certainly to call a spade a spade and to speak truth about it."

"He's a person who can actually be trusted, which distinguishes him from some in the Washington culture," she said.

It's an extremely painful issue to Obama's Armenian supporters. One Armenian-American correspondent who often complains furiously of anti-Obama media bias, David Muradyan, emailed me this afternoon:

Perhaps what stings more is his clever, yet deceitful way to say that his views have "not changed." And his use of "Mets Yegern." It's almost like he wants to appease both sides but can't because of political pressures. I understand that. But I think his statement is really deplorable. You can't in one breath say "my views haven't changed" (e.g., I still consider it Genocide PERSONALLY), but then use the word "atrocity" and not genocide. It really is a dishonest way to talk about the genocide. Either have the balls to call it genocide, or have the balls to not. But weaseling isn't respected, period.