I MENTIONED THIS IN PASSING EARLIER, BUT IT DESERVES ITS OWN LINK: White House kept Democratic senators hanging on the phone. “Obama left his party’s top senators, who had assembled for a conference call, hanging on the phone for nearly 20 minutes before National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling came on the line with a seemingly vague notion of what the call was supposed to be about, Democratic sources said.”

The disorganization and lack of courtesy is a hallmark of this White House, and bespeaks management problems that go well beyond any deficiencies in policy. Bad staff work keeps embarrassing Obama, but this sort of tone is set from the top.