Assessing the political fallout of the Andrew Romanoff revelation
The Fix
Political News and Analysis by Chris Cillizza
voices.washingtonpost.com
1.The White House released a statement Thursday morning detailing its contact with former Colorado state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff regarding potential positions available if he dropped his primary challenge to Sen. Michael Bennet.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday morning in a statement that Romanoff had applied for a job at USAID during the presidential transition process -- a fact the candidate did not mention in his own statement on the matter Wednesday night -- and that deputy chief of staff Jim Messina had reached out to Romanoff by phone and email last fall to test his potential interest in that position.
"Messina wanted to determine if it was possible to avoid a costly battle between two supporters," said Gibbs, noting that once Romanoff made clear he was "committed to the Senate race and no longer interested in working for the Administration" the conversation ended. "There was no offer of a job," added Gibbs
The White House statement comes less than 12 hours after Romanoff released a detailed account of his interactions with Messina.
The Romanoff back and forth marks the second time in the last three weeks that the Obama Administration's political operation has been thrust into an unwelcome public spotlight.
The news that White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina penned an email to Romanoff outlining three potential jobs that might be available to the former legislator if he dropped his candidacy -- if not making a specific job offer -- came less than a week after the White House was forced to stamp out a controversy over the Administration's attempt to drive Rep. Joe Sestak out of a primary challenge to Sen. Arlen Specter. (Sestak, like Romanoff, resisted the entreaties of the White House to step aside and went on to defeat Specter on May 18.)
Neither incident -- on their face -- amounts to all that much as this sort of horse-trading is commonplace in the rough and tumble of electoral politics. "Is anyone shocked that a politician offered to give a political job to a politician who helped him politically?," asked Democratic consultant Paul Begala sarcastically. "Oh, my, I'm getting the vapors."
But, context 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".
Another senior party strategist predicted that "this is going to result in a big spotlight on the political operations and how they have been operating," adding: "[President Obama] has got to lay down some strict guidelines now on what they can and can't do and obviously no offers or discussions of federal posts."
Remember that President Obama's brand -- the most powerful brand in politics today -- is built on the twin pillars of transparency and breaking with business as usual.
Republicans are doing everything they can to use these two incidents to shake those pillars. "It is clear that the Obama Administration is not capable of living up to the same standards they campaigned on and an independent investigation is necessary to learn all the facts," said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.... |
