Team Obama stoops to attack a depressive who's also a progressive

Former Obama deputy Steve Hildebrand is proving to be a definite thorn in the left-hand side of The One.

And, because he, as a former insider, dare criticize Obama for not being that progressive, here's how Obamiacs inside the administration circle the wagons:

Obama officials -- mindful that the Hildebrand Strategies Web site promotes the consultant's connection to the president -- see Hildebrand's new phase differently and dismiss his admonishments as the ravings of a sick man.

"You get the good Steve and the bad Steve. When Steve is healthy, he's a world-class operative. And when he's not, things get pretty crazy," says a White House official, who would only speak about a former colleague anonymously. The official, who acknowledges that Hildebrand has never requested to join the White House, adds that given his behavior, "it's tough to see a role internally for Steve."

Yes, you read that right. Because Hildebrand battles with depression, he's "sick" and "bad," a rough interpretation of depression.

Hildebrand goes on to offer a laundry list of his upsets with the Obama Administration and with Obama himself:

"I'm disappointed that there's not a public option," he says, convinced it was an achievable goal if there had been "a serious push for it internally from Pelosi, Reid and the president."

The president is not absolved from blame, in Hildebrand's view, on a host of legislation.

"I didn't see him as rising to the occasion," Hildebrand says. "I didn't see him as bold. I hadn't seen him persuading the American people to the extent that he could have. If he was that person, Congress would follow suit. Instead, Congress held him back. He was bogged down."

He is especially frustrated about the lack of progress on gay rights, and he thinks a nationwide recognition of gay marriage is decades away.

"You think the president is going to get this Congress to do it? They're not going to," he says, adding he was disappointed by the president's failure to defend gay marriage during a referendum in Maine. "His leadership and voice could have made a difference."

He's certainly right, IMO, on lack of leadership.

Is some of this sour grapes? Well, possibly. That said, as the story makes clear, the Obama team had no desire to keep him around after November 2008. Yes, at that times at least, contra his current claims to be "stabilized," it might have been tough to keep him full time. But, a consulting position, or a slot with Organizing for America, could have been worked out.