We are rapidly approaching the moment at which Washington reevaluates the Obama campaign’s reputation for competence and expertise. Every week, one or several of Obama’s surrogates trip over their own words; every day, Jim Messina and David Plouffe and David Axelrod must scratch their heads in wonder at the mess they are creating. One gaffe is an isolated event. Two is an embarrassment. But three or more form a pattern, one that is damaging not only Obama’s precarious chances for reelection but also the fortunes of the Democratic Party.
It seems the Obama re-election effort, which is now officially underway, will not be run out of Washington. The big decisions will, of course, be made in the White House where, Mark Halperin writes:
David Axelrod, a top level campaign adviser to President Barack Obama, seemed to suggest on CNN this morning that so-called "scandals" under Obama aren't really scandals. (Particularly, the question was about the GSA and Secret Services issues.) Axelrod, a Democrat, did however suggest that if these things were happening under a Republican president, it then might be a campaign issue:
Fox News host Bret Baier had a straightforward question last night for Obama advisor David Axelrod: "Why haven't Senate Democrats passed a budget resolution in 1,040 days?" It's the sort of question that's probably not asked enough, especially considering Republicans in the House have passed a budget in that time and they--under the leadership of Paul Ryan--introduced a new budget yesterday.
In his New York Times column today, David Brooks writes that Republicans opposed to tax hikes as a part of a debt limit deal "have no sense of moral decency." The column happens to include a rather conspicuous typo:
The boss blasted President Obama’s plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan a couple minutes ago on Fox News. “Most strikingly,” Bill Kristol said, “was the president's announcement about the September 2012 deadline: cutting the fighting season in half next year and really putting at risk our achievements in Afghanistan. I mean, it is really remarkable when our troop deployment schedule is being determined by David Axelrod, not by David Petraeus.”
And so the great machinery of the Obama-Biden campaign has slowly begun now to turn. Consider the following:
A. The president is in Puerto Rico on a visit so obviously political that Bloomberg can't keep it out of the lede:
President Barack Obama made the first official presidential stop in Puerto Rico in a half-century today with a message aimed more at an audience on the U.S. mainland.
President Obama isn’t quite in hibernation. But he’s saying less, proposing less, appearing in public less, doing less, interacting with Congress less, plugging his health care plan less, and singling out a Republican demon less. It took two years and the harsh rejection of a midterm election for Obama to figure out what shouldn’t have been a secret: The magic of the presidency declines with overindulgence.
The Huffington Post is reeling, at least that's what the red banner headline (saying, "White House Gives In On Bush Tax Cuts") suggests. Here's the story:
Jake Tapper talks to David Axelrod about the Obama administration's allegation that the Chamber of Commerce is using foreign money to fund the group's political activities--a charge the Chamber denies. This part of the interview is pretty amusing:
