We study the structure of the no-core shell model wave functions for 6 Li and 12 C by investigating the ground state and first excited state electron scattering charge form factors. In both nuclei, large particle-hole (ph) amplitudes in the wave functions appear with the opposite sign to that needed to reproduce the shape of the (e, e ) form factors, the charge radii, and the B(E2) values for the lowest two states. The difference in sign appears to arise mainly from the monopole hω = 2 matrix elements of the kinetic and potential energy (T + V ) that transform under the harmonic oscillator SU(3) symmetries as (λ, µ) = (2, 0). These are difficult to determine self-consistently, but they have a strong effect on the structure of the low-lying states and on the giant monopole and quadrupole resonances. The Lee-Suzuki transformation, used to account for the restricted nature of the space in terms of an effective interaction, introduces large higher-order hω = n, n >2, ph amplitudes in the wave functions. The latter ph excitations aggravate the disagreement between the experimental and predicted (e, e ) form factors with increasing model spaces, especially at high momentum transfers. For sufficiently large model spaces, the situation begins to resolve itself for 6 Li, but the convergence is slow. A prescription to constrain the ph excitations would likely accelerate convergence of the calculations.