President Barack Obama has long made clear he doesn’t like the Washington echo chamber. And, lately, the Washington echo chamber doesn’t think much of him, either.
A series of stubbed toes, so-so polls and sour headlines is serving to remind Obama’s re-election team of an iron law of politics: When your luck turns cold, everyone’s a critic.
In the Washington context, “everyone” means fellow politicians, graybeard consultants, supposedly friendly (and usually anonymous) “outside advisers,” journalistic commentators and all manner of others in the permanent political class who are happy to explain the multitude of different ways that a president once hailed as a prodigy is on the verge of blowing his re-election.
This chorus of second-guessers by no means offers a consistent critique. Many of the armchair critics contradict each other. Often their advice seems to translate into something like, “Mr. President, you should stop listening to your dumb advisers and listen to someone smart like me.”
Obama has a chance to quiet the doubters with a speech in Cleveland Thursday billed as a framing of his economic message.
The reality, however, is that much of the second-guessing of Obama is more than just passing static. There are several prevailing themes of criticism that fall into distinct categories, reflecting strategic disagreements and ideological fault lines within Democratic circles that in some cases stretch back for years:
