By JOHN BRESNAHAN &JONATHAN ALLEN,Politico
Pelosi tells Obama to stop criticizing Congress and DC
President Barack Obama’s Washington-bashing could boomerang on his party in Congress if he’s not careful,House Democratic leaders have warned White House senior adviser David Axelrod.
The fear — raised by Speaker Nancy Pelosi,campaign chief Chris Van Hollen and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn in a closed-door meeting Thursday — is that Democrats have more to lose if anti-Washington sentiment is not directed at one party or the other.
“If the president is going to go out and talk about how Washington’s broken,he’s got to include a strong contrast with congressional Republicans,or else we’re going to get blamed for it,” one meeting participant said later.
But Axelrod gave no indication that he plans to alter the president’s course,sources told POLITICO. White House aides did not reply to requests for comment.
House leaders’ concerns over the president’s criticism of “Washington” or “Congress” rather than the GOP appear to reflect anxiety about the possibility that Obama’s positioning for the 2012 election may come at the expense of Democratic congressional seats this fall.