On Thursday, two-time Bill Clinton presidential campaign adviser and current CNN contributor James Carville dropped a bomb on the Obama administration, saying it was time for panic and that, on his current trajectory, President Barack Obama would not be re-elected.
Later that evening on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Carville appeared from Starkville, Miss. and warned Obama again, alluding to the two special election losses — one in New York City and the other Nevada — as signs that the president is in trouble.
“I think that… these two elections… do mean something,” Carville said. “And even in Nevada: That was a seat I think we lost probably by about 8,000 votes in the presidential race and we lost about 22,000. It’s not going in the right direction. I think the president needs to show the country that he is unsatisfied with the pace of this recovery and the way that you do that is you make changes.”
Carville likened his case for changes to former President Bill Clinton’s reorganization following the 1994 Republican wave that led to its control of Congress.
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Carville suggested that if a problem can be identified, then the White House should act accordingly.
“They have a communications problem,’” Carville explained. “OK, well then fire the communication’s people. Identify where the problem is. We’re losing elections. We’re running against time. The recovery is not going well. And identify what the problem is and make changes. It may be that people are just good people are tired of it or maybe they need something fresh. I have no idea.”
He went on to say that it was important for the White House to appear to be reacting to the situation at hand.
“We’re going to bring new people in, we’re going to do something, but signal to people that you get that something has gone wrong here, not just defend everything that happens,” Carville concluded.
Carville and Karl Rove are the only two living campaign managers to run two successful presidential races.