From Knife Seller to the President’s Hard Edge

[babylonsister]

I'm glad he's on our side!

From Knife Seller to the President’s Hard Edge


Doug Mills/The New York Times

Some may call them campaigns, but for David Plouffe, a political adviser to President Obama, they are “brass-knuckle time.”

By MARK LEIBOVICH
Published: February 20, 2012

WASHINGTON — David Plouffe is not a hugger, crier or someone who gets all gaga every time he walks into his West Wing office, just a few feet from that of the president. He disdains doomsayers as “bed-wetters,” press hordes as “jackals” and the political noise machine as a profanity that begins with “cluster.”

David Plouffe “is the one most in tune with the president's personality,” a colleague says.

Fiercely data-driven, Mr. Plouffe revels in the company of spreadsheets, lists, maps and the Baseball Almanac. Fiercely competitive, he once decked a colleague in a friendly touch football game for taunting him. Fiercely unsentimental, he expends zero amazement over his career climb from selling knives door to door to a first-among-equals status in the White House’s closed circle.

Mr. Plouffe, 44, who managed President Obama’s campaign in the relatively dewy-eyed days of 2008, rejoined his team last year after a lucrative hiatus. Since then, he has asserted himself as the main orchestrator of the White House message, political strategy and day-to-day presentation of the candidate.

If the campaign of four years ago sold Mr. Obama as a force for what Mr. Plouffe called “a politics of unity, hope and common purpose,” this one is rooted firmly in the grind-it-out imperatives of re-election. Today, Mr. Obama seems every bit primed for “brass-knuckle time,” as Mr. Plouffe once termed campaign brawling, with Mr. Plouffe leading an effort that has shown every sign of doing whatever it takes to succeed.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/20/us/politics/plouffe-obama-aide-lends-firm-hand-to-campaign.html?_r=1

[grantcart]

1. You beat me to it

One of the things I like about this President is that he is competitive and he hires hard edged people who will drive every advantage.

Republicans who look at the President's generous charachter and winning personality have seriously underestimated his tenacious discipline and his ability to keep focused on the objective at hand.

Read the article and you can see why these guys don't want to just win, they want to "drink their milkshake, eat their lunch, eat their pie and have it too" and then get up and do it all over again.

In his memoir, Mr. Plouffe recounts what sounds like an ideal evening for himself — alone with his laptop in a hotel room in Decorah, Iowa, running election scenarios in 2008. What if the turnout of voters under 30 was 17 percent of the electorate? What if it was 22 percent? “I ran through these exercises frequently,” he wrote, “sometimes at 4:00 a.m., according to my wife, while flailing in my sleep. Often it gave me comfort.”

In October even if the polls show that we are 60 electoral votes ahead Plouffe will not be sleeping and that is what we need.

A lot of folks understandably love the tough and loud guy who puts it into the Republicans face. As gratifying as that is it doesn't win elections or create the kind of landslides needed to move big policy initiatives. A lot of the loudest guys are now sitting on the sidelines.

These are the guys that will put time in to see how they can split one electoral vote in Nebraska.

Some of the smarter Republicans have seen this and that's why they are not running for President and they got the clown squad bringing the Republican Party down, down, down.

Both Plouffe and Rove left college in their senior year to work on campaigns. Rove never finished. Plouffe, after cashing in with a big book deal and not having to worry about it went back and completed the requirements and got his degree. These are the kind of people you need to win big elections and it shows that despite all the President's affable charachteristics he is focused and determined to win and win big.

[indykatie1955]

2. Excellent Read

Thanks for posting full article. DUers should check it out in its entirety. I remember reading that the Clinton campaign made a mistake in not understanding all the nuances of how delegates were allotted costing her much needed delegates. Good for Obama that Plouffe was on the case.

[Wait Wut]

3. A man after my own heart.

Cold, calculating, intelligent...and a Democrat. Awesome.

[nofurylike]

4. "I'm glad he's on our side!" too!

thank you for posting that, babylonsister. great article! i am pleased to learn much more about Mr. Plouffe.