Top Dem: White House Needs Fresh Blood

President Obama's inner circle seems to be smaller and tighter than almost any I can recall. After the midterm "shellacking", it's time for a shake up.

News that the Obama White House staff may soon experience a shake-up is hardly surprising. Changes in personnel and assignments are to be expected at the mid-point in the first term of any presidency, and Barack Obama’s will be no exception. While it is unfair to lay all or even most of the blame for the recent electoral “shellacking” on the doorstep at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, political reality and ritual require that the President and his advisers “take one for the team”.

Moreover, after two years of intense, high stakes stressful, and exhausting work, some Administration folks are no doubt suffering from burnout; simple humanity requires that they be allowed to leave without prejudice. We can also assume that, insofar as others are concerned, the demands of their positions have found them wanting in ability, and they should leave---voluntarily or involuntarily---for the good of the cause.

Newspapers, political blogs, and TV talking heads will concentrate on who’s leaving and who’s coming in. Although not everyone with a White House “ID” badge is quite as big a deal as the bearer---or a would-be date--- might think, a fair number of the jobs are truly important….to the President and to the country. In fact, I think a President ought to be evaluated, at least in part, on the basis of the quality of the people to whom he or she turns for information and advice.

However, as one who has “been there, done that” (albeit a long time ago), I am not as interested in the personnel changes as I am in what the President expects of his staff---old and new. I want to know whether or not he thinks they should operate differently in the next two years than they did in the past two.

No one has asked for my advice, and the President probably doesn’t regularly click on FrumForum when deciding what to do on any given issue, but here goes, regardless:

The President and his advisers have no choice but to heed the outcome and the meaning of the 2010 election results. His party took a drubbing in races up and down the ballot and all across the nation. But rather than obsessing about the 2010 midterms, I suggest that the President and his advisers take another look at the 2008 results, and how they came about. Barack Obama’s decisive victory and that of his party two years ago did not represent a mandate for specific policy changes as much as they were a directive from the voters to change how the public’s national business is conducted. That directive stands, and Mr. Obama will ignore it at his peril in 2012.

Next, the President and his advisers should wake up to an underappreciated reality: The American presidency, although a powerful position, does have its limits. The capacity of any White House to do things---to pass legislation, issue executive orders, run the executive branch, lead its political party, attend to its many ceremonial responsibilities, shape and mobilize public opinion and (not to be forgotten) wage war---is not inexhaustible. There is only so much time, so much intellectual fire power, so much energy and so much political capital to spend on a presidential agenda. So narrow it. And focus, focus, focus!

Third, I grant that getting Congress to pass legislation is a major requirement of the President’s job description. But that doesn’t make him the 536th federal legislator. Although unavoidable, negotiating legislative particulars is an often ugly activity, and it should never be done in public. And seldom, if ever, should it be done by the President. Ultimately, his direction and his approval are necessary, but every effort should be made to ensure that he not be reduced to “bargainer in chief”.

Fourth, and this point is quite clearly tied to those above, the President should take greater care to speak with more forcefulness and clarity about his priorities, and the policy parameters beyond which he simply will not go. On the other hand, if he knows going into a legislative battle that some compromises are inevitable, then the rhetoric and tactics employed ought to leave enough “wiggle room” for such maneuvering.

For example, I support the recently crafted tax deal, and I think liberal Democrats are wrong to oppose it; I believe it is especially regrettable that many on the left have chosen to excoriate President Obama quite so harshly in the process. But, giving them their due, he did go back on what they regarded as an iron-clad pledge not to “give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.” Their subsequent behavior, given who they are and how they tend to behave, should be a reminder to the President that, in the future, he should take greater care to not give them an excuse to play to type. At a minimum, a “heads up” that a new policy parameter was unfolding would have been helpful.

Finally, every President I have observed----most from a distance and one up close---surrounded himself with people he trusted and respected; that is natural and perfectly defensible. But this President’s inner circle seems to be smaller and tighter than almost any I can recall; he and his administration have suffered from the ensuing insularity. Barack Obama is incredibly smart and, by all appearances, entirely well-balanced. Although perhaps a bit arrogant, the President’s ego doesn’t seem to be either dangerously outsized or fragile. So why not open up to a wider circle of advisers? Why not risk some different world---and life---views? Why not invite---no, why not demand---challenges to conventional political wisdom and traditional Democratic orthodoxy?

I supported Barack Obama’s candidacy with unbridled enthusiasm. I was thrilled to be in the crowd at his inauguration, and I have supported most---although not all---of his actions since. I remain inspired by the promise of his Presidency and committed to its success. But, I know he can and must do better; I just hope that he and his staff agree with me.

Les Francis is a Washington, DC-based public affairs and political consultant. He once served as chief of staff to then Representative Norman Y. Mineta (D-CA) and as Deputy Assistant and Deputy White House Chief of Staff to President Jimmy Carter. He is a former Executive Director of both the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.