"I don't really care to be president without the Senate"

Politico has a special report on the Obama presidency. In November of last year Obama hosted a meeting in the Roosevelt room at the White House with a dozen Democrat Senators. He told them:

“I don’t really care to be president without the Senate."

The freewheeling conversations that make Obama a cherished dinner companion for athletes and celebrities don’t always apply to his fellow Democrats. Donors who have encountered Obama at recent fundraisers say he’s been quick to steer conversations away from policy and toward sports, particularly the NBA playoffs, which he follows obsessively.

When Democratic lawmakers gather in private, their complaints about Obama’s perennial lack of outreach to them are frequent and sustained.

Attorney General Eric Holder used a commencement address to deliver his most explicit remarks on race since 2009, when he angered Obama’s top aides for describing America as “essentially a nation of cowards,” fearful of a candid discussion.

Obama, who will be only 55 when he leaves office, has been struck by his ability to motivate young African-American men, simply by telling them of how he grew up without a father, dabbled with drugs and lost his way before finding direction in life. He realized the power of his story during a February 2013 meeting with a dozen teenage boys from Chicago’s South Side. From there, Obama started developing My Brother’s Keeper, which associates say is a prime example of the work he will pursue after the White House.

Read more here.