To reinvent himself, Obama reaches outside his inner circle

Yahoo ^ | 1/24/11 | Holly Bailey

[NormsRevenge]

With Republicans controlling the House and with his 2012 re-election bid around the corner, President Obama has been on a quest for reinvention since last year's midterm elections.

His most public step has been to shake up the West Wing, including by hiring a new chief of staff and, soon, a new press secretary. But privately, Obama has tried to overcome the criticism that his White House has been too insular by soliciting advice from those outside his tight-knit inner circle.

Among those who have visited Obama in recent weeks, according to New York Magazine's John Heilemann: former Reagan chief of staff Ken Duberstein, former President Bill Clinton and, perhaps most surprising, Matthew Dowd, a former top political strategist for George W. Bush.

It's unclear exactly what the two talked about — Dowd didn't respond to an email from The Ticket seeking comment. But the former Bush adviser has more in common with Obama than one might expect. After all, Dowd was a Democratic strategist before he went to work for Bush. And in 2007, Dowd publicly broke with his former boss, calling him a "disappointment" over his handling of the war in Iraq and his "my way or the highway" method of governing in Washington.

[Darren McCarty]

F'ing RINOS. Dowd and Duberstein both endorsed Obama.

[DrC]

When POTUS concedes that passage of Obamacare was a mistake—ideally while apologizing for his role in cramming it down our throats—we’ll know he’s actually “reinvented” himself. Until then, any “changes” we observe are window-dressing.

[Spok]

No doubt Obama was behind the firing of Keith Olbermann: Obama IS the MSM.

[Parley Baer]

Interesting how these dimoKKKRATS always have to find themselves or re-invent themselves. It was the same with Clintoon.

[FrankR]

[BerryDingle]

To reinvent himself, Obama reaches outside his inner circle