Shorter Axelrod

Piss off.

You know, the last thing that I think we’re looking for at this juncture is advice on fiscal integrity or ethics from Karl Rove. , anyone who’s read the newspapers for the last eight years would laugh at that.

and

I mentioned Andy Card saying that we were somehow denigrating the Presidency because people were wearing short sleeves in the Oval Office. We’re wearing short sleeves because we have to roll up our sleeves and clean up the mess that we inherited.

The two comments above have been getting most of the play from bloggers, but I thought the more interesting parts were found earlier in the interview.

MS. ROMANO: But you would agree that a one-day drop in the market and a one-day story can drive the news, drive the White House?

MR. AXELROD: Well, it can drive a White House.It may not drive ours

You know, one thing that we’ve learned over the last couple of years is that this town can get in a frenzy very quickly about stories of the moment, but that the real story is written over time. And so we try and keep our heads about us and pursue what we think is the appropriate strategy, and that’s what we are going to do here.

This really is similar to their approach during the campaign. The McCain camp attacked each day trying to win the daily news cycle. It was one stunt after another (suspension of the campaign being one) in order to get the talking heads on their side for the day. The Obama campaign, for the most part, kept their heads down and just chugged ahead realizing that people outside of Washington and the network news voted as well.

When the Obama team sensed the Stimulus package was losing some of it's luster, they didn't just make a flurry of appearances on Hardball and other shows, but went to the public. They traveled to Indiana and to Florida. It is an interesting strategy and one that paid off in the election and through the stimulus fight.