David Axelrod

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Pickin’ on Gingy

by Elias Isquith on December 5, 2011

Newty

I think this is more about Gingrich being a nigh-irresistable punching-bag than anything else:

In an appearance on MSNBC, Obama campaign guru David Axelrod offered up a rare jab at Newt Gingrich, who has shot to the top of state and national polls over a stagnant Romney. Asked by Chuck Todd why he was focusing fire on Romney, Axelrod shifted to discussing Gingrich’s recent ad in Iowa.

“I was amused by the Newt Gingrich ad because you talked about he was going to bring the country together to solve problems,” he said. “You’re talking about the godfather of gridlock here, the guy who two decades ago really invented the kind of tactics that have now become commonplace in Washington. So this is a whole new Newt.”

Todd noted that this appeared to be the first attack on Gingrich by Obama’s re-election team.

“Well, I think it may be the public’s case against him,” Axelrod said. “I don’t think people want to go back to that.”

There’s no question what Democrats’ strategy has been so far. As Romney’s team correctly notes, the plan has clearly been to either soften up Romney, the strongest nominee against Obama according to a raft of polls, or — miracle against miracles — help pave the way for one of his rivals to grab the nomination. Axelrod bringing up Gingrich attacks may suggest that Democrats are considering the possibility that Newt might emerge victorious.

If the White House really wants to lend Gingrich a hand, I think they’d do better to mock him as a farcical buffoon whom they fear not a lick. That would tap into the emotional appeal of Newtmentum to many of his supporters — his supposed ability to reveal President Obama as an empty suit with an intellect that pales in comparison to the former Speaker of the House. Given that Newt is the “ideas man” of his party, Obama-ites condescendingly dismissing him as comic relief would, for some GOP voters, probably be a little like waving a red flag in front of a bull.

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Note to David Axelrod: there’s more to being President than ordering the killing of people

by Elias Isquith on October 18, 2011

We’re only two days in, but David Axelrod is not having a banner week when it comes to his life-long goal, earning my approval:

Critics of President Barack Obama who say he wasn’t prepared for the White House should look to Osama bin Laden’s killing, David Axelrod said Tuesday.

“When you say [Obama] wasn’t prepared, maybe you should go ask Osama bin Laden if he thought he was,” the president’s senior campaign strategist said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“If it went badly, not only would a lot of lives been lost, but [Obama’s] career probably would’ve been over, but he did it because it was the right thing to do.”

Axelrod continued the campaign’s positioning of the president as the underdog in the 2012 election, saying the race will be tough “by definition” because Obama took office during tough economic times while fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Forgive me for misplacing my pocket Constitution; but I’m of the opinion that the President’s job is a bit more complicated and significant than telling other people to carry out plans they’ve devised for killing an individual far, far away.

I understand that—the contentious issue of healthcare reform aside—nearly all of Obama’s achievements in office thus far have involved foreign policy (and most of those have involved successfully killing one person or another). But perhaps the Obama team’s belief that all the President needs to do to prove his worthiness for the highest office is to point to the check-marks on the national security state’s To Kill list may speak to the fundamental shallowness and naiveté many consider to have been defining characteristics of Obama’s tenure.

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