Following a harsh initial response from his own campaign, Obama this afternoon sought to distance himself from those comments. Ben Smith reports:

"I think that, uh, you know, campaigns start getting these, uh, hair triggers and, uh, the statement that Joe and I put out reflects our sentiments," he said, according to the pool report, apparently criticizing his staff for going overboard, as he did occasionally in the primary.

He was referring to a more gracious statement of congratulations he issued later with Biden, which he then reiterated.

"I haven't met her before. She seems like a compelling person ... with a terrific personal story.

"I'm sure that she will help make the case for Republicans, unfortunately the case is more of the same, and so ultimately John McCain is at the top of the ticket."

Interesting. This could mean that the Obama campaign hasn't decided how to hit Palin. They'll settle on some strategy, but it shows that announcement threw them off their game.

UPDATE: RCP reader Jon makes another point about Palin's strengths:

It's also interesting that many seem to think Clinton's support was all female and that Palin was selected merely to pander to that group. They are right when they believe that few Democratic women are going to be swayed by Palin's gender. But they forget that many of those 18 million voters were rural and working class males. They will be at least interested in someone who actually fishes and hunts and has worked for a living (and is married to someone who works for a living) and who probably has never eaten arugula in her life. Palin will connect with those voters in a way that Obama and Biden never will. And the percentage she gains doesn't have to be large to make a difference in key swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, etc.

I think Jon's point underscores the difficulty the Obama campaign might run into attacking Palin. We'll have to see what polls tell us in the days ahead.