Research Briefing

What They’re Saying:

About The Many Ways The Romanoff Revelations

Have Damaged Obama’s Credibility

ROMANOFF’S ADMISSION DESTROYS OBAMA’S CLAIM

TO BEING DIFFERENT KIND OF POLITICIAN

Politico’s Ben Smith: “[T]he real problem of emailing a politico what can only be read as a menu of senior government jobs puts a more fundamental tarnish on the Obama brand.” (Ben Smith, “Romanoff’s Menu,” Politico, 6/3/10)

Politico’s Jonathan Allen: “[O]bama’s Brand Has Already Been Badly Dinged…”(Jonathan Allen, “Romanoff: W.H. Offered Three Jobs,” Politico, 6/2/10)

• Allen: “Trying to put the fix in to deny Democratic voters the chance to choose for themselves who their Senate nominees should be is hardly consistent with the idea of ‘Yes We Can’ grassroots empowerment that is central to Obama’s brand.” (Jonathan Allen, “W.H. Political Team Stumbles, Bumbles,” Politico, 6/2/10)

NBC’s Mike Viqueira: “It might be business as usual, but the bad news for the Obama team is that it's business as usual and it's even worse news that they're not very good at it…” (MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown,” 6/3/10)  

CREW’s Melanie Sloan: “[T]he Obama White House has said it was going to behave different than other White Houses. It was going to be more transparent, more ethical than everyone else. And this shows they were horse-trading just like everyone else.” (CNN’s “American Morning,” 6/3/10) 

Politico’s Mike Allen: “At a time when people are mad at Washington … they are not going to like the fact that President Obama said that he was going to do politics differently, in fact is doing it in at least as sleazy a way as his predecessors.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 6/3/10)

Mike Barnicle: “He sold himself to us, and we bought it. A lot of people still buy it, that he was different. So he's not different when they're doing stuff like this and at a time when people have no jobs or are worried about their jobs, they’re throwing job offers around?” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 6/3/10)

Roll Call’s David Drucker: “I think it's a problem particularly because this White House and this president sold themselves as being above politics as usual. … The thing here is an image issue.” (FOX News’s “America’s Newsroom,” 6/3/10)

• Drucker: “It gets back to how they want to be perceived, and if they don’t want to be perceived as the usual political players, this clearly doesn’t help.” (FOX News’s “America’s Newsroom,” 6/3/10)

IT ALSO RAISES QUESTION OF WHETHER OBAMA CAN MANAGE HIS WHITE HOUSE OR PARTY

Politico’s Ben Smith: “My first reaction to Andrew Romanoff's release of Jim Messina's email was to marvel at his blithe defiance at the White House, And my colleagues this morning write it up as evidence of a political team that can't shoot straight.” (Ben Smith, “Romanoff’s Menu,” Politico, 6/3/10)

Politico’s Jonathan Allen: “[I]n pure power-politics terms, the moves by Sestak and Romanoff amount to a remarkable rebuff of a Democratic White House – by two men who hope to someday serve in a Senate Democratic caucus.” (Jonathan Allen, “Romanoff: W.H. Offered Three Jobs,” Politico, 6/2/10)

• Allen: “Taken together, the Sestak and Romanoff cases suggest a White House team that is one part Dick Daley, one part Barney Fife.” (Jonathan Allen, “W.H. Political Team Stumbles, Bumbles,” Politico, 6/2/10)

The Hotline’s Wake-Up Call: “The WH's really terrible PR stretch continues with an early a.m. admission that they discussed jobs with Romanoff.” (The National Journal’s “The Hotline: Wake-Up Call,” 6/3/10)

• Wake-Up Call: “Usually we don't see this kind of bumbling until late in the second term. If this is the A-Team, what's Pres. Obama's B-Team going to look like?” (The National Journal’s “The Hotline: Wake-Up Call,” 6/3/10)

The Los Angeles Times’s Andrew Malcolm:  “Does anyone else notice an emerging pattern of Obama job-handing here that's creating state-level political chaos for his Democratic party?” (Andrew Malcolm, “Anybody Left Who Hasn’t Been Offered  A Payoff Job By The Obama White House, Please Put Out Your Hand,” The Los Angeles Times, 6/3/10)

COMBINED WITH SESTAK FLAP, A DISTURBING PATTERN IS EMERGING

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza: “[C]ontext does matter in politics and, in the words of a senior party operative granted anonymity to speak candidly, the Romanoff story ‘creates a pattern when combined with [New York Gov. David] Paterson and Sestak.’” (Chris Cillizza, “Assessing The Political Fallout Of The Andrew Romanoff Revelation,” The Washington Post “The Fix” Blog, 6/3/10)

The Washington Times: “A single job offer for somebody to abandon a Senate race is nefarious enough. But if this has happened twice or more, it starts to show evidence of a mens rea - a ‘guilty mind,’ or a specific intent.” (Editorial, “Sestak Offer Was No “One-Off,” The Washington Times, 5/31/10)

• WT: “Moreover, if the President's disgraced home-state former Governor, Rod Blagojevich, Illinois Democrat, is to be believed, something in the same ballpark may have happened a third time as well.” (Editorial, “Sestak Offer Was No “One-Off,” The Washington Times, 5/31/10)

Roll Call’s Kathleen Hunter: “The Colorado flap comes just days after the White House admitted to using former President Bill Clinton as a go-between to raise the possibility with Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) that he could snag an unpaid Presidential Advisory post if he did not challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter.” (Kathleen Hunter, “Romanoff Says White House Tried to Deter Him From Race,” Roll Call, 6/3/10)

The Wall Street Journal: “The disclosure comes as the White House is still addressing denials of impropriety over its efforts to get Sestak out of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic primary.” (Susan Davis, “White House, Romanoff Discussed Jobs,” The Wall Street Journal, 6/3/10)

The Los Angeles Times’s Andrew Malcolm: “As a public service, The Ticket today is officially launching a comprehensive list of Democrats who have not recently been offered jobs by the Obama White House to not do something. It can't be too long a list, so just leave your names in the comments section.” (Andrew Malcolm, “Anybody Left Who Hasn’t Been Offered  A Payoff Job By The Obama White House, Please Put Out Your Hand,” The Los Angeles Times, 6/3/10)

AND ONCE AGAIN, THERE ARE MANY QUESTIONS LEFT TO BE ANSWERED

Time’s Mark Halperin: “It's kind of extraordinary that the White House early this morning as Mike said put out this statement saying here's what happened. Their statement doesn't answer all the questions.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 6/3/10)

NBC’s Chuck Todd: “Unlike the Sestak situation, everybody decided to, quote, unquote, come clean and yet once again we're not getting the full story.” (MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown,” 6/3/10)

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza & Debbi Wilgoren: “Romanoff's statement raises questions about whether the White House accurately described its conversations with him prior to thursday, and whether dangling three potential positions is tantamount to a job offer.” (Chris Cillizza & Debbi Wilgoren, “White House: Romanoff Sought Job Before Race,” The Washington Post, 6/3/10)

The Denver Post: “We don't know what to make of all the secrecy. Without an explanation, voters are left to wonder who to believe. And if Obama doesn't mind the position in which that places Romanoff, he ought to care about where it places him.” (Editorial, “Clear The Air On Romanoff Deal,” The Denver Post, 6/2/10)