Obama's Very Bad Week, the Sequel

Last week, fresh off the awful jobs report, with bad fundraising numbers just about to be released, and while President Clinton rushed around the country "helping," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina sent a special video message to Obama's supporters to reassure them that everything was going according to plan. Messina insisted that the campaign always expected the race to look so bad for Obama.

Yesterday, David Axelrod continued this desperate pleading on the morning shows. Axelrod claimed that Obama's awful week, capped by the President's idiotic and out-of-touch claim that the private sector is "doing fine," "will be of little consequence." Not even the MBM is buying that:

Taken together, the beginning of June 2012 may be remembered as a time period that shook the pillars of the Obama reelection effort. If nothing else, it’s shown the 2012 landscape to be so different from 2008 as to make assumptions based on four years ago seem worthless.

The Democratic base, while still solidly behind Obama, has shown signs of atrophy, as the failed recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker displays. Former President Bill Clinton’s comments on Romney’s business record and how to handle expiring tax cuts, meanwhile, show fraying of party unity in a way Democrats find all too familiar.

On the other side, the Republican Party and its high-powered allies have clearly improved in terms of organization and focus since 2008 and even 2010. The Walker victory was a psychological boost, and it gave deep-pocketed GOP allies a chance to flex their still-flush wallets.

Plus, the speed and breadth with which Republicans pounced on Obama’s “doing fine” comments show a marked improvement on the communications front. Financially, operationally, and strategically, Obama’s Chicago team is clearly facing a formidable match in Romney’s team in Boston.

Formidable. I like the sound of that.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 07:40 AM

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