Top Democratic strategist has harsh words for U.S. political system

John Podesta is a passionate runner and cook, a wiry man, intense and moody, but with a keen sense of humor. The chief of staff in Bill Clinton's White House, he chafed at the Pentagon's penchant for slapping a "top secret" stamp on all kinds of documents. If he'd already learned of a development off cable news, he often put a counter-stamp on the docs, "Embarrassing."

Now Podesta, who led Barack Obama’s presidential transition, has a few choice words about the U.S. political system. With Washington still reeling over the stunning departure from the Senate of Democrat Evan Bayh -- who had $13 million in his campaign war chest and a 20-point lead over his Republican rival -- Podesta told the Financial Times that the U.S. political system “sucks.”

“It feels like a very frustrated country, a country frustrated with the inability of Washington to do anything to get the economy going again, to get jobs going again,” he said. “And I think that there is tremendous anger [and] frustration about the inability to improve people’s lives.”

On healthcare, Podesta blamed the White House. “They lost the narrative,” Podesta said. “They lost the perspective of how all of the activity they were engaged in was knit together.”

But he faulted Republicans -- mentioning former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in particular -- for subbing sound bites for substance.

Obama, he said, is “not dealing with the party of Lincoln, he’s dealing with the party of Palin.”

Of course Podesta, who now heads a think tank in Washington, was talking to a British reporter. Maybe he thinks we should return to our parliamentary roots.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: President Bill Clinton and John Podesta. Credit: The White House

Click here to receive Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot or twitter.com/johannaneuman. And our Facebook FAN page is right here.

Comments

[dave hintzman]

As a pragmatic realist I must say it's not just Washington but the entire country is polarized. Washington simply reflects what we all believe. We are a fractured system of ideological beliefs from right to left and so many in the middle just shaking there heads. My prediction is that it will continue and even get worse.

[Tom Degan]

I’ll never forget Sarah Palin’s introduction on the national stage. Truth be told, I was more than a little puzzled as to why the GOP would think her an asset to the ticket. The moment she opened her mouth at her first campaign stop in Dayton, Ohio, I could only think of one thing:

Sally Field as “Gidget”.

When someone like Sarah Palin can make it as far as she has, it can mean only one thing and it’s not a particularly good sign: we are living in a culture that has been custom-tailored for idiots. When a person who can barely put two coherent sentences together without the aid of a teleprompter becomes one of the best-selling non-fiction authors of the decade, that’s usually a pretty good indicator that society is spiraling downward at a fairly decent clip. Fasten your seat belts, kiddies!

I had always believed that Monty Python alumni Michael Palin was the funniest person in the world to bear that name. In fact it should be stated for the record that the two Palins are equally funny. The only difference is that Michael works very hard at it. Sarah’s funniness, on the other hand, is purely accidental. The woman is a scream; the Buster Keaton of unintentional comedy.

And now she’s revving her engines, getting ready to become the forty-fifth president of the United States. Already there are throngs of pundits out there who are saying that she’s dreaming; that she’ll never get the nomination – but stranger things have happened….

On second thought, let me correct myself: nothing that strange has EVER happened. Not in all American political history has anything as remotely weird as that ever happened. I don’t believe it’s even come close to happening. Fascist Barbi becoming the standard bearer for a major political party? Come to think about it, it is probably a bit of a long shot. Oh, but what fun that would be! Can you imagine?

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

[wnaegele]

Dems prefer the Marxist/fascist system...

[cici]

John Podesta of the George Soros funded Center for American Progress? The "leftist think tank", anything that Soros is involved with is questionable at best!

[Don L]

Podesta and the left had no problems with the system when he and Obama swept the nation claiming the right to force their ideology down our throats, but now since their faux pillared messiah has been exposed as the incompetent arrogant he is, having made the mistake of awakening the sleeping giant of the populace by such foolishness as taking away the healthcare they want and replacing it with jail for not buying insurance, death panels, not to mention, climate fraud to redistribute their money, bailout politics building a slush fund and destroying capitalism and jobs. His aggressive attack on innocent life in and out of the womb is without precendent in its indecency. He supports politics of national security that threatens our CIA, criminalizes terrorism, setting up show trials making us vulnerable, and generals exhibiting an arrogance yet seen in an president in history. Such is what Podesta had no trouble with...until it was rejected by the masses in those pesky tea-parties and key elections that have cause absolute friustration of those who would be gods.

[Chief1942]

John,
Do try to control your hysterics. You progressive/socialists keep pointing to Sarah Palin and all the problems she has created for your party and you only fall short of blaming the Hindenberg accident on her. At the same time your MSM mouthpieces and every Democrat that can summon a microphone keep telling everyone just how stupid and incompetent she is. Well, if someone with all those negatives you keep heaping upon her can kick your butts the way they are being kicked, then you sir, and your pathetic socialists really do have a major problem. And truth be told, Sarah Palin is the least of those.

[mike croft]

Could it be we are sick of being lorded over instead of being led? The Democrats moan about the partisianship but they are the ones who made it so. Obama said he would be a new kind of leader but that was a scam. He said he would fix health care yet he could not even with a lock cinch in the house and senate. Now they and the media want to blame Republicans when the Republicans could not stop anything!
They stopped themselves because their actions especially their "partisianship" created an uproar among the citizens.
John Podesta is one of the most rabid politicians in the country. He should keep his mouth shut. To top it all off the Messiah promised to heal the earth and lower the oceans!
It turns out global warming was a total farce, just like the deniers have said all along. Yet the Times and all other mainstream media refuse to even tell about the lies that have been uncovered. Yep there is partisianship in America and it is the citizens against their government!

[IllinoisTP]

Mr. Podesta--
With all due respect, the Democratic Party is no longer the party of JFK, it is the party of ACORN.

[GN]

Podesta, got it right. The American public has lost its confidence in both parties and should be looking for alternatives. Sarah, Pelosi and Reid are out of touch with the present realities. Unemployment, large budget and trade deficits which have been around during the last Democratic and Republican administrations indicate a flaw in the way both establishments try to solve the economic and social problems of our country. The latest health care debate did not touch the basic issue of the systemic expensive system of delivering medical services to the American people. How can we provide health care to all of our citizens without bankrupting the country?
The un-necessary war in Iraq was voted by both parties and which has cost 5 thousand lives, untold suffering and trillions of taxpayer dollars. Bush and his neo-cons somehow did the disappearing act without being called to explain why they started that war. Both parties are bickering with each other without solving the outstanding urgent problems facing us.
We have issues that are not being addressed for years and we need a new leadership to take over from the two compromised parties, the sooner the better.