I would like to feel surprised.....

From the BBC:

The Conservative Party has hired Barack Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina for its general election campaign team, BBC Newsnight has learned.

....The Tories are hoping to emulate Mr Obama's re-election against a backdrop of economic problems. Many other governments that have sought re-election during economic turbulence have been punished by voters at the ballot box. 
 ....
The Conservatives are also thought to hope that Mr Messina will bring to their operation the same binding marriage of social media and political organisation that many in the US credit with securing Mr Obama a second term. 

Because nothing says "forwards, not backwards" like the party that is probably the West's most stalwart defender of monarchy.

And nothing says "middle-out economics" slashing welfare programs and embracing a TINA approach to austerity, regardless of the damage done to the country's population and economy as a whole.

It is *almost* as though Messina is nothing but a soulless hack with no core principles except a desire to make more money.  (Although that *almost* might be generous.)

However, it's difficult to feel that surprised.

First of all, there's Messina's "father-and-son-like" relationship with corrupt ConservaDem Max Baucus.

And then there's the ad he designed for Baucus that's considered the "epitome of homophobic demagoguery" in political circles.

Then, there's this gem from the campaign:

Jim Messina, President Barack Obama’s campaign manager, assured a group of Democratic donors from the financial services industry that Obama won’t demonize Wall Street as he stresses populist appeals in his re-election campaign, according to two people at the meeting.

Messina also recently spoke (for big $$$) at a forum in Azerbaijan, which the Institute for Reporters' Freedom described as a “publicity stunt for an increasingly authoritarian regime.”

So, Messina's record shows signs of crude social conservatism, fealty to the moneyed interests, and a neutrality-if-not-support for authoritarian policies.  Why, he's a perfect Tory!