Search This Blog

Divided We Stand

Divided We Stand
New book about the 2020 election.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Filling Gaps in the White House Website, Part 33

In an interview with Joe Klein, the president touches on the insider/outsider theme that James Ceaser and Andrew Busch developed in their book on the 1992 election, Upside Down and Inside Out.
If you're dealing with the interest groups here in Washington, don't get too comfortable. That's something you have to constantly reinforce and remind.
What do you mean, "Don't get too comfortable"?
Don't get too comfortable in the sense that there's a culture in this town, which is an insider culture. That's what I think people outside of Washington legitimately can't stand. A sense that they're not being heard. I think we've done actually a pretty good job of working in this town without being completely consumed by it. But from the outside, if you're just watching TV and all you're hearing about is the reports, people may get the false impression that somehow [the insiders] are the folks we're spending more time listening to.