“The elements of hope and change just aren’t there,” said one former senior administration official, who worked on the campaign and went on to work in the Obama White House.

At the same time, they insist it’s not over for Obama and that he has time to turn things around.

“I’d much rather be in this situation right now than what Bush faced around the same time of his presidency,” one former senior administration official said.

“Look, the healthcare launch is no doubt the worst rollout of a website in the history of the Internet,” the former senior official said. “But this is fixable.”

“Katrina dealt with loss of life with people in miserable conditions,” the former official added. “This is not that. Not at all.”