David Axelrod had a very bad morning on television. Let’s briefly consider why.

Barack Obama opposed California’s Proposition 8 at the time of the vote, Axelrod said, because it was “divisive” and “mean-spirited.” But Obama also opposes same-sex marriage, even thought that was exactly the purpose of Proposition 8 — to stop court-ordered same-sex marriage. Axelrod’s argument is simply incoherent. Nor can Mr. Axelrod explain why Obama — who insists that he embraces something called “pay-go” — won’t pay for tax cuts for families earning under $250,000 or won’t extend unemployment benefits. And Axelrod is apparently no longer content with blaming just George W. Bush and the Republicans for the lack of hiring by the private sector; the reason has to do with the “problems in Europe … and Greece.” Of course it does.

Everyone is to blame, you see, except the president. This appears to be the grand strategy that Obama and the Democrats are going to run on for the mid-term elections.

It turns out that this White House is unusually inept, both in the policies it pursues and in the arguments it advances.