Mr. Axelrod Comes to Washington

Excerpts are from an online article at the New York Times website on 3/06/2010

The scene opens to a disheveled Axelrod beaten down and flustered about the opposition and ‘misunderstanding’ of  Obama’s agenda and the snail pace to which things are moving.   How long have they been here? A year and a half and they’re already feeling the pain and heartache of opposition.  Back to the story:

“Mr. Axelrod said he accepts some blame for what he called “communication failures,” though he acknowledges bafflement that the administration’s efforts to stimulate the economy in a crisis, overhaul health care and prosecute two wars have been so routinely framed by opponents as the handiwork of a big-government, soft-on-terrorism, politics-of-the-past ideologue.”

Can they really be so thick skulled to think it’s just a matter of communication?   Come on!  He has given more speeches, partied more than any other president and has yet to stop campaigning around the country. Yet, he remains baffled:

“For me, the question is, why haven’t we broken through more than we have?” Mr. Axelrod said. “Why haven’t we broken through?”

Helloooo?  Maybe you have not only broken through but crashed into a wall.  Speaking for myself, I understand and I’ve heard you.  It’s your policies and ideas, not you communication I reject.  A little over a year ago, the President was praised as a gifted speaker.  The women swoon, the reported were hypnotized.

Nothing’s change but the content of the words.  The format hasn’t change, the places are the same and the press still has the same people behind the mike and in front of the camera.  So, logically, what is different?  Duh, the words and intents of the policies.

I don’t like, excuse me, I loathe your vision for my country!  Since Obama’s school records have yet to be made public, I can only construe that both of you failed miserably in History or ditched the class.  Did you really think you could stroll into Washington and run the country ‘Chicago-style’ unfettered?  If so, then I can see where the frustration comes from.  How dare statesmen of opposite opinions inconvenience the administration with their pesky wisdom and grandiloquent orations.  Dread the thought there may be something worth listening to.  Poor, poor Obama and gang, having to be reined in by such pesky gnats.

If it’s any consolation.  I’ve heard you.  If only the opposite were true as David Axelrod explains:

“In a lengthy interview in his office on Wednesday, Mr. Axelrod was often defiant, saying he did not give a “flying” expletive “about what the peanut gallery thinks” and did not live for the approval “of the political community.””

If the White House has heard, they surely haven’t listened and it’s apparent they don’t plan to.  So, David, why are you whining about not knowing why ‘you haven’t broken through’? You do know.  You just don’t care.  Read your own words (at least the ones that didn’t need to be censored).

All of you are floundering like fish out of water. If your actions were not so grave a danger for the country, it would be fun to sit back and watch children playing ‘grown-up’ in an adult world. And as children none of you know how to compromise, admit error, respect others or view outside of your own shallow world.

“Mr. Axelrod has never lived in Washington before and has come to loathe what he calls his “temporary home” in the capital. “I know I’m not cut out for this town,” said Mr. Axelrod, . . .”

Mr. Axelrod, I’m sorry Washington has been such a stress on you and the crew.  Please know that I will understand and not begrudge you should you decide to return to Chicago.  One should always consider what’s best for one’s health.  For you, yourself, said:

“ (Washington D.C. is). . . just something you can’t do forever, or it will kill you.”

Oh, one last note in closing:  Recently, I have noticed the President looking stressed and tense.  Perhaps he should also consider going home.