Former Clinton adviser James Carville criticized the Obama White House Thursday morning for attempting to schedule an address to a joint session of Congress on the same night as one of the Republican presidential debates.
Later in the day, Carville volunteered a few ideas for what President Barack Obama should do with his message going forward on “The Situation Room” on CNN. He suggested that maybe it’s time for a shake-up in Obama’s administration, and emphasized that the speech isn’t as important as what happens after the speech.
“I’d say the first thing is fire some people,” Carville said. “Things are not going well. It happens in every administration. Secondly, the speech is not the big thing. It’s the follow-up to the speech. But whatever it is, it’ll have good proposals, you know — some sound ideas, but you have to follow through with them. It’s not just about the speech and none of it is going to pass. The Republicans wouldn’t pass anything that he’s for. But it can carry him through to election.”
Carville stressed that Obama must distinguish himself from the Republicans, particularly Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
“That is the problem,” Carville said. “He’s got to carry it through to the election. It’s enough he can contrast himself to Rick Perry, who wants to repeal the 20th century. You know what I’m saying — we are not going to repeal it to 1950. You have to dig in and give yourself the alternative version of it. And that’s the critical thing here.”