Posted on 01/25/2014 3:22:45 PM PST by kristinn
An internal White House assessment concludes that President Obama must distance himself from a recalcitrant Congress after being badly damaged last year by legislative failures, a government shutdown and his own missteps.
Obama has said that his fraught relationship with Congress, especially after Republicans won the House in 2010, complicated his ability to promote his agenda. But for the first time, following what many allies view as a lost year, the White House is reorganizing itself to support a more executive-focused presidency and inviting the rest of the government to help.
The new approach comes after weeks of internal White House debate over a single question: What went wrong in 2013? The answers will help determine the outline of the State of the Union address Obama will deliver Tuesday evening, as well as how he pursues a meaningful legacy in the remainder of his term.
Last year began with the fresh-start ambitions of his second inauguration but ended in a long trail of mistakes, international embarrassments and missed legislative opportunities that sapped Obama’s credibility with the public.
Senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer outlined the lessons learned in a three-page memo that Obama discussed with his Cabinet in recent weeks, according to several administration officials who have read the document.
Among its conclusions is that Obama, a former state legislator and U.S. senator, too often governed more like a prime minister than a president. In a parliamentary system, a prime minister is elected by lawmakers and thus beholden to them in ways...
SNIP
“Looking at the last year from outside, a lot of it was the president in battle with a dysfunctional Congress,” Podesta said. “Our task is to remember that [Sen.] Harry Reid is the majority leader, not the president,” and allow him to manage Democratic priorities in the Senate.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This article is very damaging to nobama and his presidency. It gets about as close as it can to saying, “It’s a cock-up” without saying that. Reading between the lines was a fun exercise.
Yep. I don’t think I’ve read a lead paragraph before this that calls Obama “badly damaged.”
The WH admits Odumbo is an abject failure. The long knives will come out and there will be a revelation of how messed up Odumbo truly is, WH staff will start to resign enmasse.
Note the totally contrived justification for executive powers in the above. The admin assets that because the press and politicians want Barry beholden to them, Zero will "have to swerve really hard to executive powers."
Such insane logic is ludicrous to have to contemplate!
HF
‘The admin assets’ should be ‘the administration asserts’.
Sorry.
HF
Re Obama and a pen. That is like the joke about the constipated proctologist who was trying to end his suffering. “He worked it out with a pen”.
If Obama did that he’s suffer immense brain damage.
Somebody send the Orkin man to the White House. There is a persistent vermin there named Podesta who needs a bath.
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