The New York Times reports that Barack Obama is now taking control of the Democratic party’s operations for the 2010 elections. Two thoughts. First, what in the world has he been doing for the past year? Second, if you are a Democrat on the ballot in 2010, how welcome is this news when Obama’s job approval has fallen below 50 percent, his political team was asleep as the switch as a U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts that would decide the outcome of health care reform imploded, and Obama is still clueless as to what caused Scott Brown’s astonishing victory?
Obama’s “centralizing control” of Democrat party political operations is re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. The opening salvo came from David Plouffe, Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, dispatched by Obama to the Democratic National Committee like Harvey Keitel’s character in Pulp Fiction, swabbing up evidence of the carnage and disposing of bodies. Plouffe’s first piece of unsolicited advice to Democrats in a Washington Post op ed is, incredibly, to stop the “bed wetting.” Huh? This is what the Obama White House apparently thinks of Democrats who are legitimately worried about the fate of the party in nine months? So to those Democrats panic-stricken by the party’s perilous fortunes, the new mantra is, “Stop your whining.” One can only imagine how that is going over in U.S. Senate and House cloakrooms as more incumbents head for the exits and more candidates (the most recent being Beau Biden, son of Joe Biden) either decline to run, equivocate on their decision, or quit the race. In fairness to Plouffe, he offers some other helpful suggestions, such as “pass meaningful health care reform now” (Harry Reid must be thinking: why didn’t I think of that!) and “create jobs” (hard to do when the cornerstone of your economic policy is skyrocketing taxes and more spending).
For a political team that was once viewed as one of the best in modern times, this is pablum. It is not responsive to the clear verdict of the voters in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, who rejected Obama’s extreme agenda, not just domestically, but his weakness and vacillation in prosecuting the war on terrorism as well. These elections took place in a purple state, a blue state, and a deep-blue state. The outcome cannot be dismissed with a Tony Robbins fist pump and a vow to “fight harder.”
Contrast this with the column by Republican pollsters Glen Bolger and Bill McInturff, who were the pollsters for Bob McDonnell and Scott Brown. They offer valuable insights drawn from focus groups, public opinion research, and other data from the Virginia and Massachusetts races and provide a playbook for how a party that was viewed as headed for years in the wilderness can make a strong comeback this year.
Newt Gingrich used to talk about leadership in terms of “listen,” “learn,” “lead.” The Obama leadership philosophy seems to be: “plug ears,” “ignore,” “denigrate those not on board,” “lead.” We await Obama’s State of the Union address, but hardly with bated breath.
