Expected GOP romp on Election Day could spell doom for Obama political director Patrick Gaspard

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Expected GOP romp on Election Day could spell doom for Obama political director Patrick Gaspard

BY Kenneth R. Bazinet
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Wednesday, October 27th 2010, 4:00 AM

Dharapak/AP

President Obama's political director Patrick Gaspard has told friends he expects to be the fall guy if Republicans romp in the Nov. 2 election, sources confirmed.

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WASHINGTON - The skids are greased for the top New Yorker in the White House to be out of a job because of the expected GOP tsunami, the Daily News has learned.

Political director Patrick Gaspard has told friends he expects to be the fall guy if Republicans romp in the Nov. 2 election, sources confirmed.

"Patrick has felt that his performance would be measured by the midterm elections," a close source said.

Another source tight with Gaspard only heard him speak about leaving the White House to possibly join President Obama's re-election campaign.

Capitol Hill Democrats have long panned Gaspard. Many critics who believe he's in over his head are in the New York delegation.

One local congressional campaign recently considered asking him for help, but the idea was killed when a top adviser exclaimed: "Why bother?"

There was also frustration over Gaspard's inability to persuade the White House to embrace the 9/11 health care bill, another New York source said. Obama reluctantly signed on to avoid further fracturing his shaky base.

Gaspard's problems began last fall when he unsuccessfully pushed Gov. Paterson to pull the plug on his election bid. Paterson refused - and Obama was blasted for meddling.

That was followed by Republican Scott Brown's January victory in a special election to fill Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat. White House aides at the time said Gaspard, who is of Haitian descent, was more focused on the earthquake there than Massachusetts, which Democrats had held for decades.

There's been other headshaking moments along the way, too, like Gaspard showing up to meetings with members of Congress in blue jeans.

"The President...continues to have full faith and confidence in his abilities," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told The News. "Despite a very difficult political environment, Patrick has performed well."

Gaspard, who spent nearly a decade as a top union official in the SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Local 1199, was Obama's political director in the campaign.

He was offered the same post at the White House and couldn't say no to Obama, who is fond of him.

Aides note the two have much in common: Gaspard was born to parents who immigrated to America and was a community organizer before becoming a union boss.

His backers argue that he has been a problem-solver at times, like when the challenger to Rep. Carolyn Maloney hired one of Obama's pollsters. "Patrick stepped in and urged the pollster to withdraw," a source said.

Gaspard was in a rough spot from the start, overshadowed by uber-operatives like chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and counselor David Axelrod.

"He's in an unfortunate position. He got bigfooted by Rahm all the time... When something went right Rahm got all the credit and when something went wrong, certainly in New York, he [Gaspard] got all the blame," a White House insider said.

kbazinet@nydailynews.com

via nydailynews.com

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