Congressional Democrats ignore him when it comes time to vote and Republicans make mewling noises about his crusty lack of bipartisanship, even as they ceaselessly demonize and insult his boss.
Most everyone seems to like White House senior advisor David Axelrod, the longtime Chicago political consultant who so effectively ran the Obama campaign. But then everyone seemed to like Mack McLarty when he came to town from Little Rock to help Bill Clinton.
Being liked in Washington is a sometime thing.
And there is Valerie Jarrett, who brought Ms. Rogers to town. Who hired Michelle Robinson when she worked for Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley. Who carries a wispy title and wonky job description but is reportedly in on every significant call the President makes. Who has not heard a discouraging word from the press-and-pundit class since she moved into the West Wing.
Bundle up, Valerie. There’s been a change in the weather.
Trenchant and terrific, as always...I was hoping you'd weigh in on this latest kerfluffle.
#1 Posted by Ivy Richards, CJR on Fri 4 Dec 2009 at 06:26 PM
Really?
And so begins the ceremonial shellacking of the interlopers, driven, as ever, by declining job-approval numbers for the president. Any president.
I don't recall George W. Bush's social secretary getting publicly slimed and trashed by the White House Press Corps when his declining job-approval numbers were the worst since Harry Truman. Nor do I recall any kind of catty sliming and character assassination by the Washington Post and New York Times of Ronald Reagan's staff, nor GHW Bush's either, when their job approval ratings dropped.
Please show me where this kind of treatment applied to a Republican administration. No cheating, either, I want to see ACTUAL equivalent treatment, since you insist it is so.
This time though, it has a definite stench of racism behind it, don't you think? The bitter, shriveled old spinster, the Irish Catholic Maureen Dowd singles out Desiree Rodgers and Tiger Woods as "entitled swans." Odd grouping, wouldn't you say except, um, they are both black. Otherwise, there is no similarity. Oh Maureen, you just couldn't wait to parade your ugly, shriveled racist soul once again, could you, dear, on the pages of the New York Times.
This kind of "ceremonial shellacking" as you put it is reserved for Democrats only; as the bitter aging spinster Maureen Dowd does to the Obamas, failed socialite Sally Quinn did to Hillary Clinton. It wouldn't be so bad if the White House and political press didn't jump in with both paws to echo the character assassination, as April Ryan did last weekend. Shame on you, April.
Please, Mr. Daley, show me where the beltway petty gossip-mongers ever did this kind of thing to a Republican president.
#2 Posted by James, CJR on Mon 7 Dec 2009 at 07:08 AM