Rep. Peter DeFazio (right) noted that there has been little contact or outreach from the White House to lawmakers on many major issues in Congress.
The former leadership aide cited the weekly Monday briefing calls in which top administration staffers often opened their conversation with top Hill staffers, "I'm sure you've read this in the newspaper, the president is going to do X, Y and Z, and we'll send you talking points."
If the change in course over the past few weeks is any indication, however, it's possible the White House will continue to build bridges back to their allies. Sometimes it just takes a dramatic political event to shock order back into place — or perhaps in this case, a few dramatic political events.
"To a certain degree, I think it is [common]," Brendan Daly, former communications director for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and current executive vice president at Ogilvy Washington, said about divisions between Democrats. "I know there was a lot of grumbling from Democrats when [Bill] Clinton was president, but the difference is that it was probably only true in the first two years of Clinton's administration. But after they lost the Congress, they were humbled a bit and starting talking to people more," he added.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson appears at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church on M Street Northwest for a pre-rally before a march to the White House to protest what is seen as President Barack Obama's lack of action in addressing a variety of problems in black communities.
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