Paul Bedard @ The Washington Examiner:
A revealing new book from one of media’s longest-serving White House correspondents reports that President Obama surrounds himself only with “idolizers,” and top aides make sure that those whose views might “shake him up too much” are shoved aside.
In “Prisoners of the White House, the Isolation of America’s Presidents and the Crisis of Leadership,” U.S. News correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh also discloses the extent to which Obama relies on polling for his political decisions, including a never-before revealed re-election project to investigate the thoughts and feelings of “up for grabs” voters and another dedicated to helping him build a lasting legacy.
Walsh, who has covered the White House for 25 years and written several books on the presidency, credits Obama for trying to get out of the so-called “bubble,” but found that instead the president often relies on a tiny cadre of Chicago aides, thus living in “a bubble within the bubble.”
He called top Chicago aide Valerie Jarrett “one of the leading idolizers” who blocks the access of critics to her boss. “Jarrett has gone too far in limiting others’ access to the president, according to a number of White House and congressional sources,” writes Walsh in the book, due out June 1. “Her goal is to keep Obama in a cocoon of admirers who won’t, in her mind, shake him up too much or present views that might be contrary to her understanding of Obama’s positions.”
Democratic pollster Peter Hart told Walsh that Obama is more a performer than seasoned politician. “He likes performing. He likes crowds,” said the pollster. But Hart added that Obama’s White House is too distant from those in Congress who can help him. “It’s closed. It’s insular. It’s shut out.”
The book from Paradigm Publishers also reports that the president has been meeting with scholars to plot out his legacy. The most recent was a January dinner of salad and pastry-wrapped beef. “Obama discussed history with his guests for two hours. He was particularly interested in their thoughts on how he could ensure a successful second term and what kind of legacy he could create,” reports Walsh of Obama’s meeting with seven scholars.
Valerie Jarret plays the part of manager-nanny-protector of “rock-star” Obama keeping him safe and warm in his narcissistic bubble. Web savvy Conservatives have known this since early in his first term. It should be no surprise that a spoiled megalomaniac performer like Obama is surrounded with fawning ‘yes-men’.
No real surprises here. Obama never gave a damn about the peasantry but it IS surprising that he never made any effort to cultivate allies on the Hill and state capitols. It is clear that now no-one, Democrat or Republican, is afraid of him or sees any advantage in carrying his water. In fact, Dems respect him far less than the oh-so-polite-and-deferential RINOs.
THE reality of it tell us his weakness,
he has never been vetted at the BEGINNING,,
and in the last re-election, he is what he project, but not real him.
THE OPPOSITION HAD HIM FIGURED OUT SOON ENOUGH,
he must have paid a lot to his MEDIA to have this image continue,
that tell us all his followers are in the BUBBLE created again by the MEDIA AND he never disputed it,
he even lied to keep it alive. or pretend not to know about what the JOURNALIST ASK,
see the ,last one about the BENGHASI survivers now want to talk publicly but are threaten to loose their jobs,
he has a lot of juice to be able to look at one JOURNALIST
in his face and say he is not aware of it,
his legacy is the truth will come out on all his actions,
it won’t be so nice to read all the tricks he used
to hide, and all the blame he gave to other, for his failure
naming the first one: IT”S BUSH FAULT, he create so much HATE for BUSH, that he got elected on it alone,