YOU'RE SO CLOSE, AL:

Faux White House Intrigue Obscures Deeper Disarray (Albert Hunt, 3/08/10, Bloomberg)

[T]here is a larger self-created problem for which Emanuel and Axelrod are only partly to blame. Go back to the remarkable Obama campaign of 2007-2008. More than any of its rivals, it had a strategic sense of what it was, where it wanted to go.

This provided a shield against setbacks: losing the New Hampshire primary, the candidate’s careless remarks about rural Pennsylvania voters or even the incendiary remarks of Obama’s pastor. These became speed bumps in the strategic narrative.

That is missing in the Obama presidency. Too often it seems situational rather than strategic, reactive more than proactive. Thus setbacks, from minor ones, such as the handling of the Christmas Day bomber, to major ones, like the loss of the Senate seat in Massachusetts, throw team Obama off stride, and leave voters confused.

It's right there in front of him. The Bush campaign was about tax cuts, NCLB, and SS Reform. The Obama campaign was about electing him president. W's work started the day the Court selected him. The UR's ended the day voters elected him.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 8, 2010 9:14 PM