Once Magnetic, Polarizing Obama Now Stands Alone

November 2, 2011

Partisan President Doesn’t Want to Be Seen with GOP, and Democrats Don’t Want to Be Seen with Him

President Obama has recently tried to evoke the rhetoric of his 2008 campaign, when the then-magnetic senator from Illinois attempted to present himself as a unifying figure in American politics.
Although President Obama extols bipartisanship, the strategy for his 2012 re-election campaign is now based on vilifying the GOP to distract from his failed agenda. After all, being seen working with the Republicans would undermine his frequent claims that Republicans are purely obstructing his policies.
While President Obama refuses to be seen working with Republicans, his fellow Democrats are running away from him. Democrats know their president’s insistence on repeating failed policies is politically toxic, and they know to stay away. Even Obama’s famed grassroots supporters are calling it quits on the president.

BACKGROUND

President Obama has recently tried to evoke the rhetoric of his 2008 campaign, when the then-magnetic senator from Illinois attempted to present himself as a unifying figure in American politics:

OBAMA: “Second of all, I’m not the Democratic President or Republican President — I’m the President. (Applause.) And third of all, I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat — (applause) — because we’re all Americans and we are in this together. We don’t need a Republican jobs act, or a Democratic jobs act; we need a jobs act.” (“Remarks by the President on the American Jobs Act—Jamestown, NC,” The White House, 10/18/2011)

OH, 2009: PUNDITS GUSHED ABOUT “OBAMA, THE UNIFIER”: (Howard Fineman, “Obama, The Unifier,” Newsweek, 1/18/2009)

OBAMA’S NOV. 2008 VICTORY SPEECH: “[W]e have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states; we are and always will be the United States of America. … Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.” (Barack Obama, “Victory Speech,” Presidential Rhetoric, 11/4/2008)

Although President Obama extols bipartisanship, the strategy for his 2012 re-election campaign is now based on vilifying the GOP to distract from his failed agenda. After all, being seen working with the Republicans would undermine his frequent claims that Republicans are purely obstructing his policies:

NY TIMES’ DAVID BROOKS: OBAMA “SOUNDS A BIT LIKE AL GORE AND NANCY PELOSI”: “Obama, who sounded so fresh in 2008, now sometimes sounds a bit like Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi. Obama, who inspired the country, now threatens to run a campaign that is viciously negative.” (David Brooks, “The Fighter Fallacy,” The New York Times, 10/24/2011)

OBAMA STILL DEMONIZING REPUBLICANS: WANT TO GET RID OF CLEAN AIR, CLEAN WATER: GOP’S “PRIMARY IDEA” IS TO “ROLL BACK REGULATIONS THAT KEEP OUR AIR AND WATER CLEAN”: “And the primary ideas in their jobs plan was to roll back regulations that keep our air and water clean; to go back to the system we had in Wall Street that caused this crisis in the first place” (“Remarks by the President on the American Jobs Act,” The White House, 10/19/2011)

OBAMA HAS SAID GOP WANTS DIRTIER AIR AND WATER REPEATEDLY: (“Search: air and water,” The White House, Accessed 11/1/2011)

WHITE HOUSE CANCELLED ROSE GARDEN SIGNING CEREMONY FOR FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS BECAUSE OBAMA WAS “TOO BUSY”: “White House officials say the president’s schedule is too busy. (Though, it should be noted, he made time to greet labor leaders and workers in the Rose Garden who had planned to attend the signing ceremony. That event, however, was off-limits to press.)” (Jake Tapper, “Why Did the White House Cancel the Rose Garden Bill Signing Ceremony for the Free Trade Agreements?”, ABC News, 10/21/2011)

ANOTHER THEORY: IT’S HARDER TO VILIFY REPUBLICANS IF THEY’RE ACTUALLY WORKING CONSTRUCTIVELY TO CREATE JOBS: “Republicans on the Hill say that they suspect the White House wanted to avoid a big splashy image of Democrats and Republicans working together to get something done for the economy – since that steps on the president’s narrative that the Republicans are obstructionist.”(Jake Tapper, “Why Did the White House Cancel the Rose Garden Bill Signing Ceremony for the Free Trade Agreements?”, ABC News, 10/21/2011)

While President Obama refuses to be seen working with Republicans, his fellow Democrats are running away from him. Democrats know their president’s insistence on repeating failed policies is politically toxic, and they know to stay away. Even Obama’s famed grassroots supporters are calling it quits on the president:

SMALL-DOLLAR DONORS ABANDON OBAMA:

OBAMA HAS “LOST MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN SUPPORT FROM FORMER DONORS IN DEMOCRATIC STRONGHOLDS”: “President Barack Obama has lost millions of dollars in support from former donors in Democratic strongholds and in districts that he won narrowly four years ago, according to an Associated Press analysis of the most recent federal campaign finance data.” (Jack Gillum, “Obama Lost Many Donors from ’08 Presidential Race,” Associated Press, 10/27/2011)

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OBAMA SUPPORTERS EITHER NOT DONATING OR NOW GIVING TO GOP: “Tens of thousands of supporters who gave him hundreds of dollars or more in the early stages of the 2008 campaign haven’t offered him similar amounts of cash so far in this campaign. And in some cases, former Obama contributors gave to GOP candidates, such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.” (Jack Gillum, “Obama Lost Many Donors from ’08 Presidential Race,” Associated Press, 10/27/2011)

THE OBAMA DRAG IN ACTION:

OBAMA WAS “UNQUESTIONABLY AN ANCHOR ON THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEES” IN EACH OF LAST THREE SPECIAL ELECTIONS: “The last three elections — the Sept. 13 House special elections in New York and Nevada and the Oct. 4 West Virginia special governor’s election — haven’t done much to inspire confidence about Obama’s ability to help the entire ticket: the president was unquestionably an anchor on the Democratic nominees in each race.” (Alex Isenstadt and Dave Catanese, “Obama’s Lonely Campaign Trail,” Politico, 10/24/2011)

DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS HAVE NOTICED, AND THEY’RE STAYING AWAY FROM THEIR POLARIZING PRESIDENT: “But already, as Obama’s most recent forays into battleground states indicate, there are growing signs that many Democratic politicians don’t want to get too close to him either.

“In trips to Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania — all states that he carried in 2008 — members of Congress were notably missing from the president’s side. Though none came out and said they were deliberately avoiding him, they didn’t have to: Dodging a presidential candidate who’s riding low in the polls is a time-honored political practice.” (Alex Isenstadt and Dave Catanese, “Obama’s Lonely Campaign Trail,” Politico, 10/24/2011)

NC DEMS MYSTERIOUSLY ABSENT ON OBAMA’S NC TRIP: “In North Carolina, only Sen. Kay Hagan, who isn’t up for reelection until 2014, and veteran Rep. Mel Watt, who represents a majority black district, appeared with the president. The state’s six other Democratic House members took a pass, offering a variety of excuses.”(Alex Isenstadt and Dave Catanese, “Obama’s Lonely Campaign Trail,” Politico, 10/24/2011)

OBAMA SIMILARLY STRANDED IN PA: “When Obama visited Pittsburgh, Pa., two weeks ago, the story was much the same — no members of Congress to be found. Though two of southwestern Pennsylvania’s three Democratic congressmen greeted the president on the airport tarmac, neither of them attended any of the public events Obama held, choosing instead to return to Washington.” (Alex Isenstadt and Dave Catanese, “Obama’s Lonely Campaign Trail,” Politico, 10/24/2011)

VA DEMS FLEE OBAMA WHEN HE SWINGS THROUGH THE STATE: “Don’t look for Democrats in fiercely contested Virginia legislative elections to join President Barack Obama as he brings his campaign-style American Jobs Act bus tour to three cities there. For that matter, don’t expect Tim Kaine, the former Democratic National Committee chairman and Virginia’s governor two years ago, to join his old ally either.” (Bob Lewis, “Some Dems Won’t Join Obama in Swing Through Va.”, Associated Press, 10/18/2011)