White House shake-up in the offing?

Peter Wallsten and Jonathan Weisman at the Wall Street Journal think so:

Some high-level Democrats are calling for President Barack Obama to remake his inner circle or even fire top advisers in response to what many party strategists expect to be a decisive defeat on Tuesday.

Tensions have come to the surface after meetings over the past few weeks in which Obama senior adviser David Axelrod discussed communications strategy with senior Democratic strategists and party officials. Some Democrats were so unhappy with the White House meetings, they started their own.

The strategy sessions aired a range of disagreements over how to help Democrats forestall an electoral drubbing at the polls-a defeat party strategists believe could have been minimized with a different White House playbook.

Among the complaints: Mr. Obama conveyed an incoherent message that didn't express what Democrats would do over the next two years if they retain power; he focused more on his own image than helping Democratic candidates; and the White House picked the wrong battle when it attacked Republicans for using "outside" money to pay for campaigns, an issue disconnected from voters' real-world anxieties.

Finger pointing is common after a loss of this magnitude, but GOP politicos echo their Democratic counterparts; it was amateur hour at the White House these last few months. Bill Clinton was incensed at the fumbling, bumbling way in which the White House went about strategizing mid terms. Clinton - if nothing else - is widely acknowledged as one of the most savvy politicians in America.

Rather than firing up the base, Obama's efforts had the opposite affect; half empty speaking venues, wide criticism in the press and on the left, and ultimately, an expected disastrous result on election day.

The whispering about a primary challenger to Obama will only get louder over the coming months unless the economy improves more than expected and the GOP starts shooting itself in the foot. For that, Obama has only his own arrogance and incompetence to blame.



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