As yet another scandal rocks the Obama administration, Democrats are beginning to turn on President Barack Obama and are criticizing him for being “detached, flat-footed and even incompetent.”
According to CNN’s John King, Democrats, especially those facing tough races in November, are privately speaking out against President Obama for his failure to take action following reports of malpractice within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“Forget for a moment that Republican outrage,” King said Sunday. “More and more Democrats in key 2014 races are calling for the president to get a spine, they say, and fire his Veterans Affairs secretary. And what more and more Democrats are saying privately is scathing, calling the president and his team detached, flat-footed, even incompetent.”
Following reports that more than two dozen VA medical centers were operating secret waiting lists to cover up long wait times for veterans to receive care, many Republicans and some Democrats called on President Obama to fire VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. In an address to the press last week, though, the president said he would stand by Shinseki and not take any action until further investigations into the scandal were concluded.
Obama’s passive approach to the agency’s malpractice especially angered Republicans, but, according to King, frustrated those within the president’s own party.
“What Democrats are saying privately in the wakes of the healthcare.gov problems, they see a president who doesn’t want to take command, doesn’t want to act fast, raising the competence question,” the CNN host said. “Some Democrats who believe in government, this White House doesn’t appear to have its hand on the lever.”
With the Senate in jeopardy of flipping to a Republican majority, many vulnerable Democrats have distanced themselves from the president as his approval ratings reach new lows. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) snubbed President Obama when he visited her home state in January, and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said if she were up for reelection, she wouldn’t ask the president to campaign for her either.
