Obama Willing to Sacrifice Democrats to Save Himself

Robert Gibbs says he merely “stated the obvious” in predicting Republicans could win control of the House in November.

But Democratic strategists are privately grumbling that the White House press secretary gift-wrapped a bludgeon and handed it to the GOP.

“It was the dumbest thing in the world to do,” one major Democratic money-bundler told POLITICO. “Barack Obama doesn’t understand this [election] is a referendum on his agenda.”

Gibbs’ perhaps too-candid remarks about losing the House has exacerbated Democratic anxieties about the prospect of fighting a political war on two fronts, against Republicans and their own White House.

And they privately express concern that President Barack Obama and his aides are willing to sacrifice Democratic seats — and perhaps the majority — to protect Obama's brand heading into the 2012 election. Gibbs's remarks are particularly galling, several Democrats say, because they feel that the White House is focused on Senate races and has done too little to help keep the speaker's gavel in Nancy Pelosi's hands. - Politico Story