Post Election Memos to Obama

Robert Scheer:

Some Democratic leaders will urge Obama to follow President Bill Clinton’s lead after his party’s electoral reversal in the 1994 election and move even further to the right to strengthen his prospects for re-election. It was that opportunistic shift by Clinton that led to his signing off on the radical deregulation of the financial industry that caused the economic meltdown. If Obama follows such advice it will spell further disaster for the nation. MORE...

Glenn Thrush (Politico):

But if Obama’s critics are focusing on his agenda and messaging, many on his own team are urging him to address what they see as a major organizational flaw: an amorphous, ill-defined chain of command in the West Wing that concentrates too much power in too few hands, hampering efficiency, accountability and communication.

“If there’s still only five, 10 people making decisions, then we haven’t learned our lesson from Tuesday,” said one aide, who believes the problem starts with Obama’s insistence on giving his senior advisers, Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod, broadly sketched responsibilities.

But the issue isn’t confined to the upper levels. Several Obama insiders pointed to a surplus of West Wingers who spin out ideas by the bushel — and a shortage of seasoned middle managers to execute and sell them. MORE...