“Iam not on the ballot this fall. Michelle\’s pretty happy aboutthat. But make no mistake: these policies are on the ballot. Every single one of them.”: President Obama, Thursday
Can a Democrat senate or house candidate credibly run an anti-Barack Obama campaign?
Mr. Obama is certainly giving them a chance to find out.
Excerpted from Noah Bierman\’s article in the Boston Globe:
Obama,whose celebrity once filled large arenas, has not appeared with asingle House or Senate candidate at a campaign rally this year,according to a database maintained by CBS News.
Behindclosed doors, Obama has been a key fund-raiser for his party, holdingat least 10 private events for the Democratic Senatorial CampaignCommittee this year alone, as well as events for individualcandidates and party committees, including a closed Illinoisfund-raiser Thursday.
Buton the campaign stage, Obama seems persona non grata. It is notunusual for candidates to try to distance themselves from anunpopular president or make him the issue. Presidents George W. Bushand Bill Clinton attended just a handful of public campaign events atthis stage in their presidencies, with Bush ramping things up in thefinal weeks of his sixth year in office.
Butthe lengths to which Democratic candidates are going this year toavoid association with Obama has become one of the most strikingthemes of the 2014 elections.
Translation: Democrat candidates are perfectly happy to get all the help from President Obama they can – when the public can\’t see it happening. But at public events, when the public can see that they are tying themselves to Mr. Obama? He\’s “persona non grata”.
In other words, the Democrats talking against him in public, but quietly taking his money, are trying to flimflam the voters.
Gee, politicians trying to flimflam voters. What a novel concept. Who ever heard of such a thing?
Seriously: do you think that if the Democrats trying to pull this flimflam are elected – in part with the money his fundraisers have generated – they will vote against President Obama\’s policies over and over again? You know better, don\’t you?
The President himself, just three days ago, told us this election is about his policies. Is it not clear that, if he supports and raises money for these Democrats, he knows they will support those policies?
Ironic, isn\’t it, that this is one of the few times voters have a good reason to believe Barack Obama.
