Obama Manager Speaks Softly, Spins Ably

He's out of touch with regular Americans, Romney argues

(NEWSER) - In Iowa yesterday, Mitt Romney attempted to turn around a common complaint about himself and use it against Barack Obama, accusing the president of being out of touch. Referring to Obama's statement last year that "things would have been a lot worse" without his stimulus plan, Romney told the Huffington Post , "When the president's characterization of our economy was, 'It could be worse,' it reminded me of Marie Antoinette: 'Let them eat cake.' This is not a time to be talking about, 'It could be worse.' It's a time to recognize that things should be better." More»

He claims the president was not leading talks on spending cuts

(NEWSER) - According to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, President Obama had to be dragged “kicking and screaming to the table to cut spending,” he said on Fox News Sunday. Cantor says White House senior adviser David Plouffe is being dishonest in his claim that Obama was the one leading that discussion, Politico reports. Elsewhere on the Sunday dial:

• The president will make a major budget address Wednesday. He will lay out “his approach to long-term deficit reduction,” David Plouffe said on Meet the Press, adding that the president’s 2012 budget includes a plan to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion over the next decade. Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Schumer said on Face the Nation that details on the spending cuts included in the budget deal will be posted online tomorrow.

Plouffe, Axelrod, Messina lay groundwork for reelection campaign

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s inner circle is already privately laying the groundwork for his 2012 reelection campaign. The planning so far consists mostly of informal private conversations, in between more rigorous 2010 planning, but insiders tell Politico that the consensus is that the campaign will be run out of Chicago, managed by current deputy chief of staff Jim Messina. More»

Plouffe book recalls a historic campaign that got lost in transition

(NEWSER) - 'Yes, we can" was the rallying cry of a game-changing campaign that swept Obama to victory on the shoulders of a grass-roots tidal wave one year ago—and President Obama would do well to remember Candidate Obama, writes Arianna Huffington in a lengthy look at David Plouffe's new campaign memoir. The senator whose mantra was change has forgotten his middle-class mandate, and become the president who decided "the American people can only have as much change as Olympia Snowe will allow," she writes. More»

Clinton was still in contention in June: new memoir

(NEWSER) - The Obama campaign seriously considered Hillary Clinton for vice president, but ultimately the perception that her husband was "too big a complication" combined with bad memories from the primary campaign to sink her chances. Barack Obama “said if his central criterion measured who could be the best VP, she had to be included in that list," writes campaign manager David Plouffe in a new memoir, The Audacity to Win. More»