White House press secretary Josh Earnest ruled out any type of reshuffling or firing of White House staff two days after Democrats took a drubbing in the midterm elections.
For the most part, President Obama and the White House have suggested no major pivot or change in approach or direction, suggesting instead that they will work with Republicans in areas of common ground when they can and continue to take unilateral executive action when they can’t reach agreement.
Earnest also suggested that any change in White House staff after the election will be voluntary — aides who decide to leave on their own volition after working for several years in an intense, high-velocity environment.
“I am ruling out a large-scale public firing — I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Earnest said after noting that there may be people with long White House tenures who decide to move on and do something else.
Democratic and Republican pundits alike cast the wave GOP election as a referendum on the president and his competency in rolling out healthcare.gov to fighting the Islamic State and handling the Ebola crisis.
Still, Earnest said he didn’t believe voters cast ballots for Republicans thinking it should send a message to Obama to shake-up his staff and advisers. He also pointed out that nearly two-thirds of voters in the country decided not to cast a ballot at all.
“Those people cast that ballot — or, as we’ve discussed a couple of times in this briefing, didn’t cast a ballot — hoping to send a message to the president of the United States that he needed to get some more results,” he said. “And the president will consider a variety of ways that he can try to work with Congress to get more results.”
“The good news is, I think a lot of Republicans are considering what they can do to get some more results for the American public, and that, I think, is the kind of change that people are looking for,” he added.
