RNC Research

Obama’s “Central Ambition” Of Changing Washington Has “Effectively Been Discarded.” “A central ambition of Obama’s presidency — to change the way Washington works — has effectively been discarded as a distraction in a time of hardening partisanship.” (Scot Wilson, “Obama’s Rough 2013 Prompts A New Blueprint,” The Washington Post, 1/25/14)

Former Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: The White House “Sort Of Stopped Trying” To Change Washington “Long Ago.” GIBBS: “Well, I think, you know, the ability to change Washington, I think, is something that long ago the White House sort of stopped trying to do and whether or not that’s a good thing, we will look back on history.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 1/28/14)

• Gibbs: “Somehow We Have All Changed. … Or Maybe Washington Just Changed Us.” “Even before he left the White House, Gibbs had asked that question many times, in various forums. He spoke often of being dispirited by all the small accommodations the Obama White House had been forced to make to the status quo that they had run against in 2008: the various exceptions to the no-lobbying rules; what he considered to be the excessive embrace of the Washington media echo-chamber; self-service winning out over public service, or at least loyalty to the president. ‘I remember saying in that meeting, ‘Somehow we have all changed.’’ Gibbs said. ‘Or maybe Washington just changed us.’” (Mark Leibovich, This Town, 2013)

The New York Times’ Mark Leibovich: “I Do Think That The Notion Of A Changed Washington Is A Complete Myth.” MARK LEIBOVICH: “The Obama experience was fascinating, because it really did begin in 2008 when my chronology begins. And this was this massive change brigade, which had these big ideas about changing Washington, and the President explicitly said that they’d failed. A very smart person is quoted in the book as saying, sort of rhetorically, did we change Washington or did Washington change us? And that very smart person is on this panel right now. … But I do think that the notion of a changed Washington is a complete myth.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 7/16/13)