CNN’s John King said Sunday morning that Democrats in key races are distancing themselves from President Obama, calling him “detached” in his handling of the scandal involving treatment of patients in a Veterans Administration hospital.

“Forget for a moment that Republican outrage. More and more Democrats in key 2014 races are calling for the president to get a spine, they say, and fire his Veterans Affairs secretary,” the host said on “Inside Politics,” The Weekly Standard reported.

“And what more and more Democrats are saying privately is scathing, calling the president and his team detached, flat footed, even incompetent,” Mr. King continued.

“What strikes me, what Democrats are saying privately in the wakes of the Healthcare.gov problems, they see a president who doesn’t want to take command, doesn’t want to act fast — raising the competence question. Some Democrats who believe in government [are saying] this White House doesn’t appear to have its hand on the lever,” he said.

Politico’s Maggie Haberman agreed, calling the president’s press conference last week “tepid.”

“All of this adds up to somebody who just doesn’t seem at all involved,” she said.

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