David Axelrod Leaving White House In First Half Of 2011

WASHINGTON — Top Obama administration adviser David Axelrod says he will leave the White House in the first half of next year to begin the president's re-election campaign.

Axelrod told "Fox News Sunday" that he would return to Chicago in "late winter, early spring" to start work.

The 55-year-old Axelrod is a longtime friend of President Barack Obama, and served as his chief strategist for the 2008 campaign.

 

 

Comments

[jalten]

09:34 PM on 11/17/2010

WooHoo!!! I am so glad to see Obama cleaning house. Get on with it!

[valboski]

09:00 PM on 11/17/2010

the rats are jumping ship and that is the smartest thing they've done.

[zdubchi]

01:14 PM on 11/16/2010

On the health care point...I just found out that I owe $750 for eye exams for my two 5 year olds required in order for them to start kindergarten. I have a small business that has taken a beating over the last couple of years so that kind of out of pocket charge is a serious kick in the you know what.

My question is exactly what have the republicans done for people like me on health care...ever? I have health insurance because my wife who is college educated and trying to strike out on her own right now as a photographer works 20 hours at Starbucks. If I could actually get affordable coverage as a small business owner she would be able to pursue her thing fulltime and maybe we'd be doing better faster.

I can't find one thing the republicans have done for me over the last decade. Not one. Now they want to stand in the way of me getting a tax cut so millionaires can get one first. Wow. You beat on Obama while he actually is working on behalf of the majority of us. His approach and fighting skills can be argued but not his policies in my mind.

[Michael Valentine]

12:59 PM on 11/17/2010

Just think what you could do as a small businessman if we had single payer and it wasn't an part of the expense of employing people.

[Insightful]

08:18 AM on 11/16/2010

This election campaigning has gotten out of hand. Obama spent at least 2 years as a senator on the campaign trail. He is always traveling around the country or the world and besides that who can possibly like David Axelrod. He always seems to deliver bad advice.

[J.C. Convery]

12:19 AM on 11/16/2010

Lets see. At least there is a healthcare plan which is someplace to start with rather than being perpetually talked about vaporware you now have the software in place to improve the program. Even Social Security went though some growing pains before it became what it is now.

Death Panels, yeah I was going to put those on my car. You must be a very naive individual to entrust your health care to an unregulated oligopoly. They've been rationing your healthcare since day one. They don't make any money if you're very sick so they deny coverage. So rather than a government entity that tells a bedridden patient with end stage cancer that they cant get that hip replacement their doctor always wanted them to get or the guys that have figured out how sick you can get before they pull your financial plug.

The federal reserve is an Independent entity that detrmines the nations monetary policy. They're version of stimulus was to buy bad debt and guess what the Presdient had nothing to do with it. I have issues with the Fed but you cant hang this on Obama because he has no control over that particular intitution

[BillLaimbeer]

02:45 AM on 11/16/2010

What's your point?

[Fractal122635]

02:45 AM on 11/16/2010

An unregulated oligopoly? Like.... the government?

[chicagurl]

10:56 PM on 11/15/2010

I think it's safe to say that there are a lot of things that I wish we could tell President Obama that we wish he would have done, things we wish he would have said, ways we wish he would have acted differently than what he has. He has, however, accomplished a lot of things despite the Party of No dogging him, most of which seem to have gone totally unheralded. I'm on the fence about him, but -----

The bottom line is that I cannot, in good conscience, vote republican. I'm not uber rich, nor am I head of a corporation and those are the only two constituents that republicans openly state that they care enough about to protect.

[BillLaimbeer]

02:47 AM on 11/16/2010

And the stupid. Gotta get that constituency, cause who else are you going to get to vote against their own best interests?

[mythster]

07:50 PM on 11/22/2010

You can always tell who is President, you just can't tell him much

[carester]

10:29 PM on 11/15/2010

Wow, the Obama love fest is..... gone? :-)

[chicagurl]

10:44 PM on 11/15/2010

Did you read the article? It says Axelrod is leaving to start Obama's re-election campaign. Guess he's still in love, eh?

[carester]

10:50 PM on 11/15/2010

I'm not talking about Axelrod; I'm talking about HP posters :-)

[j0em0mma]

11:08 PM on 11/15/2010

Yeah... the difference is we gave him a chance to prove himself first. Which, to a degree, he has. Lots of us feel he made a tactical mistake by making his first 2 years about cooperating with Republicans when they did not compromise AT ALL, even when the legislation looked like theirs, and then called him a radical leftist who never compromised. And not 2 days after the election we get more of the same. I don't know who is giving him that advice, but if it was Axelrod, glad to see him go.

[Morgan Express]

11:54 PM on 11/15/2010

Reaching out to a Republican is like sticking your hand in a Viper nest or a Putrid Cesspool.

[Fractal122635]

02:47 AM on 11/16/2010

Cooperating? Do you honestly think that's what he did? If so, I can't imagine what you read or how you get your information. How did he cooperate? Was that cooperation occurring as he called Republicans his "enemy?"

[stevebol2]

10:11 PM on 11/15/2010

Who told Obama to make a big deal out of healthcare? They need to get another job. I doubt it was Axelrod.
Dumb. dumb, dumb.

[BillLaimbeer]

03:01 AM on 11/16/2010

Rahm Emanuel. And I believe he's running for mayor of Chicago at the moment.

[jt1980]

05:17 AM on 11/16/2010

Healthcare reform is a must as cost is totally out of control. It's unfortunate that the Republican side has been too cynical to accept the fact.

[OnlyaKing]

01:13 PM on 11/16/2010

HELLO!!!
The only thing they did about healthcare costs was make it more expensive than it already was.

[m1jones]

09:38 PM on 11/15/2010

Axelrod has done such a good job at advising President Obama in the White House that he is now going back to Chicago to help run Obama's 2012 campaign? Guess what, there isn't going to be any 2012 Obama campaign if real Democratic voters have any say in it. We've been down that road once before, recently, and realized what a Pied Piper Obama and his Chicago cartel are - fool us once - shame on you; fool us twice - shame on us. We are not going to be fooled again - and you can take that to your bank, David and O!

[J.C. Convery]

11:32 PM on 11/15/2010

Politics is the ultimate game of increments. I would say that Obama's incremenst have been far more successful than he's given credit for. I don't agree with everything the man has done but throwing in the towel at this point is just rewarding republican bad behavior. If you think things are crappy now then imagine how much crappier they would be with John Mc Caine as POTUS. A man who saw the Great Depression v 2.0 approach and called the economy fundamentally sound.

So I support Obama and I am not a Real Democrat...does the DNC now have DINO's ?(Democrats in Name only). The DNC is a big tent party that provides opportunity for a diversity of views. Unlike the GOP that does not tolerate diversity of view. Ever see a republican say hey the deficit is going to break us, lets raise taxes. He would loose his funding with a quickness even though his logic is sound.

I think you're anger is misplaced. Disappointment is understandable but throwing someone under the bus because they failed to meet your expectations is unrealistic. This would be akin to condemning MLK for his work because he failed to achieve the goal of racial equality

[pickles n pops]

06:47 AM on 11/16/2010

I disagreed with McCain on just about everything, so had he been elected, I would not have been surprised or disappointed.

But when you're sold out by your friends, it is the unkindest cut of all.

[Joy4u]

08:47 AM on 11/16/2010

So you speak for all democrats? I'm a democrat and I don't share your opinion. So who do you plan to vote for in 2012? Sarah Palin? Mitt Romney? John Boehner? Pick any republican, I think Pres. Obama is a far better choice.

[JPETERB]

07:42 PM on 11/15/2010

Obama should get rid of every one of the Chicago Mob that swept into office with him and the all of the appointed Bushie Hold Overs. They have done real harm to the American people in two years and injury to his Presidency and have greatly diminished his moral standing.

[Karya]

07:35 PM on 11/15/2010

I am defintely gearing up for the 2012 elections and will work hard to get Obama re-elected. Axelrod was not a good spokesperson for the White House and for the Democras in Congress. I always marvel at the GOP PR machine...even though they don't serve the interests of the average American, they sure have plenty of folksy slogans. Dems need to learn the art of messaging.

[JASONH0099]

09:28 PM on 11/15/2010

Why? This is a stellar performance of the job??? He paid 600 million to get it and did not have a clue what he was getting and still seem be the same as he was on the first day, So again I ask why?? Find another democrat that is qualified....

[SIMPLICIMUSS]

10:47 PM on 11/15/2010

Jason.....Are there any qualified Dems, or GOP for that matter ??

[J.C. Convery]

11:38 PM on 11/15/2010

Obama's first day on the Job.

Congratulations Mr. President and by the way the economy is spinning apart due to long term mismanagement and the nation is going bankrupt.

So much for the progressive agenda.

Yet even though he was handed an economic dog's dinner he has managed to make things better and pass elements of his progressive agenda. How is this failure?

[OnlyaKing]

01:18 PM on 11/16/2010

We have heard him over and over and over again. It is not how he is selling it it is what he is selling.
And we're not going to buy it!!

[You Are My Density]

07:19 PM on 11/15/2010

David Axelrod's departure was not unexpected. He has always missed Chicago, his family still lives there, and he hardly gets a chance to see them. He isn't completely out of the picture, but that hasn't stopped a bunch of trólls from saying some really nasty things about him and the President (the duly elected one, who got more votes than any President in history), so I won't be hanging around this thread. It's just amazing to me how ugly people can be and how they'll take advantage of anything to make disparaging remarks about everyone in the White House. Get me out of here.

[chicagurl]

10:46 PM on 11/15/2010

Not sure that leaving the thread to the trolls is good either, but sometimes leaving is the best thing to do for yourself.

[You Are My Density]

03:15 AM on 11/16/2010

Well, if no one pays attention to them, maybe they'll go away. But I just can't stand backbiting and gossip, which is basically what they were doing, so yeah, it was the best thing for me.

[mythster]

07:57 PM on 11/22/2010

Don't let the swinging door hit you in the...(butt)

[DJleary]

07:19 PM on 11/15/2010

Mr Axelrod will certainly have his work cut out for him this time. I for one will not vote for Barack Obama again.

[jeanwny]

07:36 PM on 11/15/2010

Suit yourself, but be careful when you vote for whoever it is the GOP runs

[DJleary]

07:39 PM on 11/15/2010

Jean,
There are many other choices. I am no longer stick in 2 party land.
CHANGE i can believe in....:)

[mssreader]

10:10 PM on 11/15/2010

jean, I would never vote repub ad DJ did not say he would vote repub but that he would not vote for Obama again. I won't either. I believed this man, I was gullible all the way and all we see is good rhetoric and no leader.

[traveller77]

08:09 PM on 11/15/2010

I have the same strong sentiment. To be re-elected, Obama will need to deal with his failed 'moderate' approach to the country's problems and change his ugly behavior toward Progressives, who pointed out his poor choices out at every step, and have proven to be correct.

His fanboys need to deal with this, too. It isn't enough just to post the same old playground taunt, "who ya gonna vote for instead?" ... that got Rahm Emanuel eased out even before this months' election debacle. What we do, boys and girls, is to STAY HOME IN LARGE NUMBERS when we get dissed. That costs elections.

If Obama wants to win, he has to find a way to include Progressives. To include Progressives, he has to actually FIX a problem or two; not just excuse himself by saying that the Presidency is "hard work."

tt77

[mssreader]

10:13 PM on 11/15/2010

traveller, I'm not sure he has the time to turn things around and quite frankly I doubt his leadership skills. I see now that he didn't have the experience. He was only in the senate a short time before taking off to run for president. He's an excellent talker but he's a disappointment to me and I so wanted to believe in him. HE LET A LOT OF US DOWN :-(

[OnlyaKing]

01:23 PM on 11/16/2010

When you include progressives you loose the majority of this nation. his problem is he doesn't know how to include anybody.

[chaya]

07:16 PM on 11/15/2010

Yep, now that the GOP has won by installing ample governors and a majority in the House, it's time to start getting things done--the very same things that Obama was trying to get done and they were stopping. When the next election rolls around, they can rewrite history: look what the GOP did! Yay! Vote for us!

[roydoe]

06:38 PM on 11/15/2010

After watching his lackluster preformance on MEET THE PRESS yesterday I'm not surprised he's being kicked ou...leaving.