According to a report in today’s Politico.com, Congressional Democrats are teed off at Barack Obama and his campaign for blowing them off. One senior Senate Democratic aide is quoted as saying: “They think they know what’s right and everyone else is wrong on everything. They are kind of insufferable at this point.”
Politico reports that the Democratic leaders are steamed that Obama hasn’t done any fundraising for Democratic congressional candidates (You mean he thinks this year is all about him?!); that he shows up in members’ districts with no advance warning; that they aren’t in the Obama loop on talking points and strategy against John McCain; and that the Democratic leadership—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid—are so out of it that they didn’t hear about Obama’s convention night speech plans until they were announced on a media conference call.
Some folks quoted in the Politico piece attribute such negligence to Obama’s “confidence,” while others say it’s his “arrogance” and “sense of entitlement.”
Obama is running as a “change” candidate in what everyone keeps telling us is a “change” election, so he needs to put distance between himself and the Democratic Washington establishment, especially since they are at 9% job approval. (The president, by the way, is at 28%, three times higher than Congress.)
But the Congress is a cantankerous bunch with access to every media outlet available. If they are steamed, the world will know it, and that won’t be good PR for Obama.
He needs to remember that his fellow Democrat—Alex Forrest-like—will not be ignored. Or else.
Meanwhile, memo to Hillary: There’s some buyer’s remorse going on RE Obama. Girl, get those rollers out of your hair, put the Ben and Jerry’s back in the freezer, and roll on those nylon stockings. The cavalry may come for you yet.
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