Politico: “In interviews with more than 60 people who have had close dealings with Obama — his aides, lawmakers, friends, historians, critics and outside advisers — the portrait emerges of a president shadowed by a deepening awareness that his time and power are finite, and that two-thirds of his presidency is already in the past tense.”

“The interviews, which illuminate Obama’s thinking, outlook and choices as he navigates his second term, suggest a paradox. Often stymied at home and abroad, Obama recognizes that he is less in control of the Washington agenda than ever in his presidency — a reality that has left him deeply frustrated at times. Last week was a case study, with the Veterans Affairs scandal and resignation of Secretary Eric Shinseki eclipsing Obama’s surprise visit to Afghanistan and major foreign policy speech at West Point.”

President Obama “made a surprise appearance in the White House Briefing Room Friday to announce the departure of White House Press Secretary Jay Carney after more than three years in the post,” Time reports.

“Obama announced the selection of Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest as his choice to be the next press secretary, effective next month.”

In case you missed it, Michael Shear of the New York Times talked to us about life as a white house correspondent.

“Eric Shinseki resigned as secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department Friday after meeting face-to-face with President Obama about mounting evidence of widespread misconduct and mismanagement at the agency’s vast network of medical facilities,” the New York Times reports.

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a former Veterans Affairs official who lost both of her legs while serving in combat during the Iraq war, told the Washington Post that her former boss Eric Shinseki should resign.

Said Duckworth: “Our first priority should be the veterans and at this point whether Secretary Shinseki will stay or go is too much of a distraction. I think he has to go. He certainly loves veterans, but it’s time for new leadership, it’s time to get someone in who will put veterans first. We’ve moved away from veterans being the primacy of the conversation. It’s now a political discussion and that’s not where it should be when it comes to our nation’s heroes.”

“There’s a well-worn Obama playbook: Let conservative critics burn hot, put off decisions during a fact-finding mission, quietly set up a procedure that starts to tackle the problems. Count on his allies on the Hill to have his back. And definitely, definitely don’t appear to be cowed into firing people,” Politico reports.

“Not this time. Faced with evidence of the misconduct at VA health facilities and the political radioactivity of a scandal involving injured veterans, Democrats started rushing to get ahead of even Republicans calling for Shinseki to go, leaving the White House struggling to explain what the president was waiting for.”

“Hillary Clinton had lunch with President Obama at the White House on Thursday, People magazine revealed in a tweet that was quickly deleted then reposted,” The Hill reports.

A White House official later confirmed the lunch.

“Calls for the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki reached a fever pitch on Wednesday after the release of an explosive watchdog report that found “systemic” problems at VA facilities around the country,” The Hill reports.

“Senate Democrats, who had stood unified behind Shinseki last week, began to abandon him in droves after the release of the report, with Sens. Mark Udall (D-CO), John Walsh (D-MT) and Kay Hagan (D-NC) all calling for his ouster.”

“More senators are calling for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign and the FBI to investigate following the release of a devastating audit,” Roll Call reports.

New York Times: “The report validates allegations raised by whistle-blowers and others that employees in Phoenix kept an off-the-books waiting list or used other artifices to cloak long waiting times that many veterans faced for medical care.”

“Piece of advice about that BFD stuff: Assume every microphone is on….Thank God my mother was gone or I’d have been one dead vice president.”

— Vice President Biden, quoted by CNN, on his famous open mic moment.

First Read: “Interestingly, no additional Democrats over the long Memorial Day weekend came out for VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign. In fact, maybe the biggest political development was that a few veterans groups accused GOP Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, of over-politicizing the VA mess when he called out these groups for refusing to demand Shinseki’s resignation.”

“Burr’s decision to criticize these groups — and the backlash it prompted — represents a classic case of political overreach. And it changes the conversation from the Obama administration’s handling of this VA story, to Republicans stepping on the political pedal, as well as why Senate Republicans blocked additional VA earlier this year.”

“The CIA’s top officer in Kabul was exposed Saturday by the White House when his name was inadvertently included on a list provided to news organizations of senior U.S. officials participating in President Obama’s surprise visit with U.S. troops,” the Washington Post reports.

“The CIA’s top officer in Kabul was exposed Saturday by the White House when his name was inadvertently included on a list provided to news organizations of senior U.S. officials participating in President Obama’s surprise visit with U.S. troops.”

“I don’t know how bad it is, but my sense is, it’s worse than what we know.”

— Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), quoted by the Columbus Post Dispatch, on the problems surrounding the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Huffington Post notes why you shouldn’t get naked in front of the White House.

“On the surface, the game of musical chairs being played this week in President Obama’s Cabinet seems intended to elevate the star of San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, who is being nominated to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development and is seen as a potential vice-presidential candidate in 2016 or beyond,” the Washington Post reports.

“But it also involves a set of decisions that sheds light on Obama’s thinking about his team heading into the final two years of his administration.”

“HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, rather than leaving the administration after six years, now seems destined to stay for the duration as he moves into the job of Office of Management and Budget director… The moves seem to be largely about bringing Donovan into Obama’s inner circle.”

“So when you hear a false equivalence that somehow, well, Congress is just broken, it’s not true. What’s broken right now is a Republican Party that repeatedly says no to proven, time-tested strategies to grow the economy, create more jobs, ensure fairness, open up opportunity to all people.”

— President Obama, quoted by Greg Sargent.

Wonk Wire: The Veterans Affairs Debacle

First Read: “The White House has just announced that President Obama will meet at 10:00 am ET with embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki… Will Obama make public remarks after the meeting? Is Shinseki headed out the door? We don’t know the answers to those questions, and it’s unlikely Shinseki would exit today — it just isn’t Obama’s style. But what we do know is that the president, potentially, has a feeding frenzy on his hands… And it’s now turned into a local news story, in which news organizations are looking closely at their own VA hospitals.”

“Perhaps more importantly, the story has resurrected all of the complaints about President Obama’s management style, especially during a crisis. He’s too methodical. He doesn’t get that mad. He seems to have found about this at the same time everyone else did (through the news). And he’s always a couple of beats too slow in taking action. All of those things are being re-litigated in this VA story.”

“Growing allegations of mismanagement at veterans hospitals across the country are threatening to engulf President Obama in another scandal that brings into question his ability to make government work,” the New York Times reports.

“As a candidate, Mr. Obama denounced delays and poor care for veterans at hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs and vowed that his administration would fix the backlogs and dramatically improve care for those returning from the battlefield… But five-and-a-half years into his presidency, Mr. Obama has once again found himself exposed to political danger by a bureaucracy that seems out of his immediate control.”

Washington Post: “The White House is scrambling to contain growing outrage over delays in treatment and rigged recordkeeping at veterans hospitals as lawmakers on Capitol Hill prepared to vote Wednesday on a bill designed to help make it easier to fire career employees tied to scandals at the beleaguered Department of Veterans Affairs.”