"I know I would not be here, as president, without him."

[Clio the Leo]

AXE FAREWELL PARTY, “Axelrod to the future,” at the home of Linda Douglass and John Phillips – The president, who kept with the party’s casual dress code, delivered the final toast: “Deep down, David got into this business because he actually thinks this stuff matters. And he actually thinks that if we do this right, that some kid somewhere is going to have a better life. Or some parent somewhere is going to get some relief from the difficulties of illness … Or the country’s going to be a little truer to the ideals that David saw in JFK, the first time he sat on a mailbox and watched him go by. And that side of David is tested and challenged … He’s accused of somehow being too bold with his candidate or his candidates. … I know I would not be here, as president, without him. More importantly, I wouldn’t have kept my feet on the ground … if it hadn’t been for our ongoing conversations.”
http://www.politico.com/playbook/

“No Axe to Grind: The One’s Second leaves the windy capital for the Windy City”: “The unsentimental Barack Obama and the sentimental David Axelrod said goodbye Friday night over an intimate dinner in the White House residence. (Along with their wives.) … ‘As one of my colleagues said, the White House is a bit like working in a submarine: it’s better to come up for air,’ Axelrod recalled Friday … nce Obama got deluged with a torrent of presidential crises, the poetry stopped, and the adviser in charge of the message got some blame. ‘Yeah, we were too prosaic,’ he said. ‘We all got sort of dragged down, you know; we were a triage unit. I think all of us have been guilty of neglecting that really important part of the presidency, where you’re operating in the world of ideals and values and vision. … There were a lot of hands on the words, a lot of concern about every nuance. And it is true that this is a place where an errant clause can send markets tumbling and armies marching, and you’re always aware of that. … It was, so, you need this guy’s vote and therefore, perhaps we shouldn’t emphasize that issue because they will be less apt to support us on the recovery plan and the country could slip into a depression.’ …

“Asked about the cascade of ‘exclusive’ exit interviews he was giving, he warned drolly: ‘Don’t turn on the Shopping Network!’ ‘The White House is like fantasy camp for him,’ said his charming assistant, Eric Lesser. ‘He could go to an Afghan war council in the Situation Room, meet Sandy Koufax and have a baseball signed, and have lunch with Caroline Kennedy.’ Axelrod’s final Friday began with Lesser bringing the usual oatmeal. (Now that the boss has lost 25 pounds, Lesser permits him a sprinkling of brown sugar again.) … e said he was going to open a Twitter account so he could ‘leap into the debate from time to time.’”

http://nyti.ms/gWVSoV

Senior Advisors Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod listen during a meeting with President Barack Obama and the economic team in the Oval Office, Nov. 5, 2009.


President Barack Obama listens to Senior Advisor David Axelrod during a meeting in the Oval Office, May 20, 2009.


President Barack Obama laughs while walking with Senior Advisor David Axelrod following an event at the Costa Mesa Town Hall at OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, Calif., March 18, 2009.