UNQUESTIONABLY THE MOST AMUSING SPIN ON THE STORY...:

Unwelcome spotlight falls on Obama chief of staff (JENNIFER LOVEN, 03/03/10, AP)

The strange, only-in-Washington story began unfolding about two weeks ago when a column in The Washington Post asserted that Obama’s “first year fell apart in large part because he didn’t follow his chief of staff’s advice on crucial matters.”

The piece advised a 180-degree turn from the recent trend of blaming Emanuel for Obama’s woes and of calling for the former congressman from Illinois to go. Instead, it said, blame others in Obama’s orbit who are too “in love with the president” to advise him wisely on such things as health care strategy, the closing of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and how and where to try accused Sept. 11 terrorists. Blame Obama himself for not listening more to Emanuel, columnist Dana Milbank wrote.

Then this week came another Post story saying basically the same thing, based largely on interviews with Democrats on Capitol Hill. This was harder for the White House to shrug off, because it was not an opinion piece but in the news section — on the front page, no less.

Suddenly, the Obama White House had to deal with a narrative that some (though it’s still unclear who) think Obama’s chief of staff is smarter than the president, an awkward development in Washington’s deeply ingrained tradition of aides staying behind the scenes and not upstaging the boss.

...is that these pieces are being planted by Axelrod, Gibbs and company to force Rahm out. You bet...

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 3, 2010 6:54 AM