On Tuesday, CBS This Morning hosted David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Obama, and treated the former White House official to a friendly interview to help promote his political biography.
Throughout the interview, the three CBS hosts lobbed softball questions at Axelrod but refused to ask him about a controversial portion of his book, that they themselves had previously boosted, in which Axelrod claimed that Obama was irritated with Mitt Romney’s concession call in 2012 in which the Republican allegedly suggested the president won by getting out the black vote.
On two separate occasions, February 4 and 5, CBS This Morning played up Axelrod’s hit on Mitt Romney, with the network originally offering no pushback against the Democrat’s accusation before eventually acknowledging that the Romney campaign dismissed the “absurd” “lie.”
Instead of confronting their guest on his accusation against Romney, co-host Charlie Rose introduced Axelrod by proclaiming “Yes, we can. It was one of the most iconic campaign slogans in recent memory. David Axelrod is the man who wrote the tag line for then-Illinois State Senator Barack Obama in his run for the United States Senate.”
Rose then proceeded to play up how Obama had defiantly ignored the results of the midterm elections in order to “be a bit unplugged” in his final two years as president:
There is some sense that he felt tied down and he couldn't go out and talk to the country in the midterms. But he has decided for the remaining two years he's going to be a bit unplugged, and he's going to tell the country really what he believes and really where he stands, regardless of the political consequences.
As the interview continued, co-host Gayle King lamented at how the White House supposedly had trouble getting its message out to the public:
In your book, you tick off a laundry list of things that the president has accomplished and in great detail. That said though David, you talk about Michael Bloomberg, Barbara Streisand, and Nancy Pelosi were always hammering you all about you're not getting your message across. You guys are not getting it right. Why did that keep happening, do you think, time after time?
Later in the interview, rather than press his guest about Obama's struggling popularity or his numerous policy failures, Rose eagerly asked Axelrod about Obama’s post-presidential plans, and even allowed his guest to promote the construction of the presidential library:
What will he do after the election -- after the 2016 election? There are those who say, and you're one of them, he ought to put the library in Chicago. But other people I talked to say he wants to come with the family to live in New York City.
The softball interview concluded with Gayle King obnoxiously asking Axelrod if “there is a longing” for him to improve his relationship with President Obama:
You write in the book you don't miss the action but you miss the main actor. I get the impression you feel pain about your relationship with Barack Obama today. You say “I e-mail him and sometimes he e-mails and sometimes he doesn't.” That there is a longing there. Is there?
In total CBS provided more than 7 minutes of airtime to help promote David Axelrod’s book and not once did the three hosts ask him any questions to challenge his one-sided view of the Obama administration. Instead, they happily ignored his book’s controversial criticism of Mitt Romney in favor of softball questions about his “longing” to return to the White House.
See relevant transcript below.
CBS This Morning
February 10, 2015
CHARLIE ROSE: Yes, we can. It was one of the most iconic campaign slogans in recent memory. David Axelrod is the man who wrote the tag line for then-Illinois State Senator Barack Obama in his run for the United States Senate. Axelrod has known the president since 1992. He was in charge of messaging and strategy for the senate and presidential campaigns. Axelrod spent two years as a senior adviser to the president in the White House. He then left to go to work on the re-election. He is the author of a new book out today. It is called "Believer: My 40 years in politics." We're pleased to have him here this morning. Good morning.
DAVID AXELROD: Good morning. Good to be here.
ROSE: Let's talk about the president today first. There is some sense that he felt tied down and he couldn't go out and talk to the country in the midterms. But he has decided for the remaining two years he's going to be a bit unplugged, and he's going to tell the country really what he believes and really where he stands, regardless of the political consequences.
AXELROD: Yeah, I think that that's true. It's so funny, because you all remember the day of the midterm elections, the night of the midterm elections, everybody was reading last rights over the Obama administration. He's probably had the best run he's had in years since that time. And part of it is his attitude is "I've got two years left to make the biggest difference I can, and I'm going to go out and do everything I can." And he has more of a bounce in his step than I've seen in a very long time.
ROSE: So what might we expect from the Obama presidency for the next two years?
AXELROD: Well, I think you can see some of the things that he's going to push hard. He's going to see his immigration reform through. He's going to push on climate change. And I think he's very, Charlie, interested in these economic issues. This has been a main theme of his entire career, not just in politics. And that is how do you build an economy in which people who work hard can get ahead and people can aspire, strive, and get ahead. And that's -- we're losing that. And that's a fundamental challenge for this country.
ROSE: That's what everybody is in pursuit of, including Hillary Clinton and others as they try to gear up for the campaign.
AXELROD: That's true. But, you know, he's been talking about this for years. And now you hear Republicans talking about it. Jeb Bush talking about income inequality. Mitt Romney talking about poverty. Marco Rubio talking about the middle class. The issues have shifted in his direction.
GAYLE KING: In your book, you tick off a laundry list of things that the president has accomplished and in great detail. That said though David, you talk about Michael Bloomberg, Barbara Streisand, and Nancy Pelosi were always hammering you all about you're not getting your message across. You guys are not getting it right. Why did that keep happening, do you think, time after time?
AXELROD: Well, first of all I will say people were very generous with their advice when I was in the White House.
KING: Don’t you like unsolicited advice?
ROSE: Was it welcome?
AXELROD: Sometimes. Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Look, the reality is, we were a triage unit when we arrived in the White House, and I describe this in the book. We were told that there was a one in three chance of a second Great Depression. Every day we were taking the vital signs of the U.S. economy, hoping that we could keep it pumping. And we had to take a series of steps, the president did, that were as unpopular as they were necessary. And that distracted from our ability to deliver the kind of message we wanted. I regret that we used him too much as kind of an announcer for the government instead of the narrator of a larger theme. That was a mistake that I take some responsibility for.
KING: You say working in the White House was like working in a submarine, hard to get a read on the pulse of America when you're looking at the country through a periscope.
AXELROD: Yeah.
KING: So in some respects, maybe you all didn't get it right yourselves.
AXELROD: Well, look we tried very hard, and I spent my days reading focus group reports and polling data and so on. But it is really hard. And I think it's Washington's problem generally. Gary Hart, the former senator, once told me that Washington is always the last to get the news. I think that was right because it's so insular. But the White House is worse.
ROSE: One of the criticisms is that guys like you, the political team, had too much influence and a lot of the policy people complained about it all of the time.
AXELROD: Well, you know, Charlie, actually, what I remember is telling him that health care was going to be a real politically perilous thing to do, telling him that rescuing the auto industry was very unpopular. I didn't tell him -- recommend he didn't do those things, but I had to give him that. And I always joked I like him so much because he listened to me so little.
JEFF GLOR: David, how would you describe the relationship between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the past? How do you think it's evolved? And if and when she gets involved in this race, when do you think she needs to declare?
AXELROD: Well, it's had some peaks and valleys, Jeff. Obviously, they were friends before they ran against each other. We had probably the most vigorous contest in the history of presidential nominations. Went through the entire calendar. And there were some raw feelings after that. The great story -- one of the great stories of the administration was how close they grew, though, during that time that she was secretary of state. He has -- I think the president has huge respect for her. I think she has huge respect for him. And I expect that -- I don't know -- those who say they think she is going to run away from him. First of all, we saw in the midterms, that's not a good strategy. But secondly, I don't think that's her inclination. They have a very good relationship.
GLOR: She needs to separate a little bit, though, right?
AXELROD: She needs to define herself and where she wants to take the country in the future. That's the important thing.
ROSE: Do you think where he's going will push her to the left?
AXELROD: I don't think that it's a matter of being pushed to the left. It is a matter of focusing on this fundamental issue of building the economy in which we have a thriving middle class and people can get ahead.
ROSE: What will he do after the election -- after the 2016 election? There are those who say, and you're one of them, he ought to put the library in Chicago. But other people I talked to say he wants to come with the family to live in New York City.
AXELROD: Well, I think those are two separate issues. Where the library goes. And I mean, the Clinton Library is in Arkansas. There's no question in my mind the library should go in Chicago. He's so much part of the fabric of that community. And he had such an interest in reviving the south side of Chicago. He can do so much with this one gesture that it's hard for me to believe he'll pass on that opportunity.
ROSE: What was his biggest failure?
AXELROD: Well, I think his biggest failure-- everybody's strength is their weakness, Charlie. His greatest strength is that he viewed – that winning elections was not the most important thing to him. Getting things done was the most important thing. His weakness was that for 80% of the people in Washington, winning elections is the most important thing. And he didn't always relate to the politicians as well as he could.
KING: You write in the book you don't miss the action but you miss the main actor. I get the impression you feel pain about your relationship with Barack Obama today. You say “I e-mail him and sometimes he e-mails and sometimes he doesn't.” That there is a longing there. Is there?
AXELROD: Well, you know, when you were close to someone as I was, as close to him as I was for years, and you see him several times a day and talk several times a day, not just as -- not just as a boss to an advisor but as friends. There was a withdrawal when I left the White House. And I was very depressed about it, you know, not hearing from him. And the truth is, we have settled into a good rhythm. We talk from time to time. We e-mail frequently. And, you know, I -- I feel of him that he's a friend, not just -- not just someone I worked for. And I'm glad that relationship—
ROSE: I would love to know what these e-mails are about.
KING: Yes, me too.
GLOR: Very quickly, will we see you in another domestic campaign?
AXELROD: No. What can I do to top this?
ROSE: But you're working in London.
AXELROD: That's not a domestic campaign.
