Friends like these who aren’t friends

Standard

Obama isn’t a schmoozer but to get background, the New York Times quotes two Senators who are members of the Democratic caucus without noting their specific willingness to oppose the President:

“Maybe if something isn’t working, you’d say, ‘What can I do better?’ ” said Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, expressing dismay that the president seemed to have little interest in taking a warmer approach with Democrats. “Maybe we wanted something different. But it kind of is what it is.”Asked to characterize his relationship with the president, Mr. Manchin, a centrist Democrat who has often been a bridge builder in the Senate, said: “It’s fairly nonexistent. There’s not much of a relationship.”Few senators feel a personal connection to the president.“In order to work with people, you need to establish the relationship first before you ask for something,” said Senator Angus King of Maine, an independent member of the Democratic caucus. “And I think one of the things the White House has not done well and the president has not done well is the simple idea of establishing relationships before there is a crisis.”

via Obama Is Seen As Frustrating His Own Party – NYTimes.com.

King may caucus with GOP after these coming midterms.
Manchin sued President Obama over EPA regulations before Boehner did.

They aren’t the people Obama needs to caucus with first. The biggest deal in this article is Harry Reid’s disappointment in the President. All the rest is centrism for centrism’s sake. King will probably caucus with the majority party and Manchin is a very conservative Democrat. Not the core of the Democrats senate base.