Remember When He Promised to Walk and Chew Gum?

It was his often repeated promise during the campaign, to be a president who could both walk and chew gum, yet 17 months into his presidency Barack Obama is now described as "stumbling and bumbling."  The characterization arises upon recent confirmation a leading Democrat was offered, not one but three jobs , to drop from a race for Congress:

But now a series of recent missteps just keeps getting worse for Barack Obama’s political operation, already under fire from inside the party for losing its golden touch.

The second-guessing of the White House political shop — which is coming in part from top House Democrats — was sparked anew late Wednesday by news that the White House tried and failed to coax another Democratic Senate candidate out of making his race by dangling administration jobs in front of him.

In a possible repeat of the Joe Sestak episode in Pennsylvania, insurgent U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff of Colorado said deputy White House chief of staff Jim Messina reached out to him — with a wince-inducing e-mail that is now public — with three possible jobs in September 2009. Obama wanted to keep him out of a race against Sen. Michael Bennet, the White House’s favored candidate.

Taken together, the Sestak and Romanoff cases suggest a White House team that is one part Dick Daley, one part Barney Fife.

What a combination, Dick Daley and Barney Fife.  Who knew the man who suggested the oceans would recede and the planet would begin to heal under his watch could fall this far to earth?  Alright, we all did.  Nevertheless, it is still rather stunning when the admission comes from "top House Democrats."  The rats are indeed scampering from the ship my friends:

One senior House Democrat said it is baffling "how one group of people can be so good at campaigning and so bad at politics" — a phrasing nearly identical to that of a second veteran House Democrat who expressed the same sentiment.

Lawmakers say the White House seems capable of handling only one issue at a time — a stunning contrast to the candidate whose campaign promised that he could "walk and chew gum" at the same time in 2008.

Now this senior House Democrat said he's worried that the White House isn't able to handle multiple major challenges.

"They're paralyzed," he said. "It potentially loses the House."

The White House political director is Patrick Gaspard, a former community organizer with long ties to organized labor. But the political operation is heavily influenced by several more senior aides — including Emanuel, Axelrod, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and Plouffe, an outside adviser who recently re-engaged with Obama political operations after writing a memoir celebrating his role in the 2008 campaign.

If Emmanuel, Axelrod, Gibbs and Plouffe are involved, Obama can't be far behind.  This is the team that took him from freshman Senator to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Moreover, this is his Chicago posse who along with Valerie Jarrett have greatest access and influence over the One.  It seems you can take the team out of Chicago but not the Chicago out of the team.  That this group is unable to pull the same tactics in 2010 they used successfully in 2008, is testament to this incompetent administration's  inability to walk while they chewed on a lousy economy, a massive oil spill, a health-care overhaul that no one wanted along with a host of other problems around the world.  Who knew they wouldn't be able to pull it off?  Alright, we all did.

More on this at Memeorandum