No, I don't think that this is the case for the Wisconsin recalls, and in fact, the quote is not about the Wisconsin recalls, it's a quote from the Obama "senior White House official" regarding the Blanche Lincoln - Bill Halter primary runoff in 2010.
I think that this statement is wrong. I think that this attitude, "Don't fight anything unless you are sure of winning," is wrong, but it pervades the thinking of the Democratic Party's "Very Serious People" inside the beltway.
I'd also be willing to bet that we will here something very much like this in the next few weeks from a "senior White House official" in the next few weeks.
This official will claim that the money and sweat would have been better spent working on 2012, and working to hold the Senate and (of course) to Reelect Obama.
What's more, what passes for the intellectuals in the Democratic party will nod, and sagely declare the same thing.
Fuck them.
Better yet, fire them, and replace them with real Democrats who don't think that the country ends at the Beltway.
Some fights are simply worth fighting, win or lose, and the lack of involvement by the national Democratic party apparatus in this effort was appalling.
I understand that the White House's brand right now is PPUS (Post Partisan Unity Schtick), but that hippie punching crap is what got us the 2010 election results.