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National Journal's Under the Influence

Friday, June 19, 2009 9:06 AM

The next issue of National Journal will be devoted to profiling more than 350 Obama administration officials. The Decision Makers issue will be delivered to subscribers on Monday, June 22.

Hotline OnCall editor Jennifer Skalka reviews a poll of National Journal's political insiders on how the White House staff has been doing:

Political Insiders
gave passing marks to the WH staff, but offered less stellar reviews of President Obama's economic and national security teams.

Also in Decision Makers, NJ's James A. Barnes and Peter Bell asked Democrats (97) and Republicans (91) to grade the White House staff. On average, Democrats gave a 'B+' while Republicans gave a 'B-.'

"Dealing with the toughest challenges inherited by any administration in two generations," said one 'B+' bestowing Democrat.  "Rahm looked especially 'Rahmbo' on the NBC special. Get a leash," said a Democrat who stamped the Obama team with a 'B.'

A Republican 'B' giver: "They'd get an 'A' if they stopped blaming Bush for everything under the sun."

Meanwhile, the Democrats gave Obama's economic team a 'B-' and the national security team a 'B+.' The Republicans were less kind, rating them a 'D+' and 'C' respectively.

One Republican issued a 'D' to the economic team, adding: "If Obama ends up as a one-term president, it will be because these guys pushed economic politices that would make even Jimmy Carter roll his eyes."

And a Republican who tagged the national security team with a 'C' said: "Repacking a lot of the former administration's ideas, just selling them better. But North Korea? Do we have a plan? Time is ticking."

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