It certainly looks like the folks in the White House are beginning to put Obama's re-election machinery into high gear.  According to Politico, Obama's top hands are laying the groundwork for the 2012 campaign.

Of course, it's not unusual or even unexpected for a president to begin to make high profile preparations for a re-election campaign.  It would be more surprising if he didn't.  But what is surprising is how soon into his term that they've begun to make those moves.  Usually this sort of thing doesn't happen until after the mid-term elections are over.  But given how bad things look for Democrats lately, it doesn't look like they want to wait and take any chances.

And we're sure this story indicating that the younger demographic is beginning to slip away gives the president cause for concern.  Especially when you consider that the greatest percentage of support for Barack Obama in his 2008 election came from young adults:

A year after supporting Barack Obama for president by an overwhelming 2-to-1 ratio, young adults are cooling quickly toward his Democrats amid dissatisfaction over the lack of change in Washington and an escalating war in Afghanistan. read more »

Dick Morris, the former senior advisor to Bill Clinton in his first term, has written a column entitled: "Hillary's Incredible Shrinking Cabinet Role." This raises the question of whether Hillary Clinton will resign after a couple years, or less, of extreme frustration after being shut-out during key foreign policy-making decisions by the Obama White House.

Here are just a few examples given by Dick Morris of Hillary Clinton's shrinking role as head of the Obama State Department: "Joe Biden has "moved vigorously to stake out foreign policy as his turf. His visit to Afghanistan, right before the inauguration, could not but send a signal to Hillary that he would conduct foreign policy in the new administration, leaving Hillary in the role of back-up.

"Richard Holbrooke, the former Balkan negotiator and U.N. ambassador, has been named special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He insisted on direct access to the president, a privilege he was denied during much of the Clinton years.

"Former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine), negotiator of the Irish Peace Accords, was appointed to be the administration's point man on Arab-Israeli negotiations.

"Samantha Power, Obama's former campaign aide, who once called Hillary a 'monster,' has been appointed to the National Security Council (NSC) as director of 'multicultural affairs.' read more »