They didn’t deliver on the promise of change:

In that sense, Axelrod, who announced a few days ago that he will return to Chicago in the spring, is leaving in defeat. It’s not really an electoral defeat: Though Democrats will probably experience a shellacking on Nov. 2, Obama’s prospects for 2012 will surely rise with the economic cycle.
Rather, it’s the notion that Obama, who declared on election night that “change has come to America,” has failed to change Washington, a belief shared by 53 percent of Americans in the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll. […]
Obama’s promise of change in Washington was a noble idea, but ultimately either naïve — if he really thought he could fix this town — or cynical — if he knew he couldn’t but told voters he could. It’s unfortunate, but probably unavoidable, that Axelrod leaves here without having made Washington more like [Chicago deli] Manny’s.

That’s Dana Milbank in today’s Washington Post, here.