Obama missteps boost GOP midterm chances
<http://www.thehill.com/>
The Hill
Justin Sink 29 mins ago
Political missteps by President Obama are unnerving Democrats just two weeks
before the midterm elections.
The GOP could hardly contain its glee at what it viewed as Obamas latest
mistake: his comments that voters should support red-state Democrats who
vote with me and have supported my agenda in Congress.
While the remarks on the Rev. Al Sharptons radio show were intended to move
black voters to the polls, they bolstered GOP attacks that a vote for
Michelle Nunn in Georgia or Sen. Mark Pryor in Arkansas is essentially a
vote for Obama.
Democrats running in the midterms have continually tried to distance
themselves from Obama to no avail, noted Republican National Committee
spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski, who said Democratic candidates should be
straight with voters about their relationship with Obama.
The Sharpton comments were just the latest in a series of fumbles by Obama
that has fueled Democratic worries the party will lose control of the Senate
in the midterms.
Obama twice in October has tied red-state Democrats to his policies, and has
stumbled with other public comments that have distracted from Democrats
midterm messaging, such as when he said the administration didnt have a
strategy yet for targeting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Mondays remarks were similar in tone to his Oct. 2 comments at Northwestern
University that his policies were on the ballot.
Every single one of them, Obama said at the time in remarks repeated
verbatim by Republican candidates across the country and which former
adviser David Axelrod quickly dubbed a mistake.
It cant really help us, one former senior administration official said of
the comments.
The president has always prided himself on getting things just right, the
former official said. And I think he still does. But the gaffes, however
small, can be a problem especially at a time when we dont need it. We need
all the help we can get.
Several Democrats spun the latest comments as a relatively minor problem,
saying the election is already a referendum on Obama and that there is
little candidates can do to change it.
They argued it is good that the president is doing what he can to bring
black voters to the polls, which could help the party in states like
Georgia, North Carolina and Louisiana.
While Obamas low approval ratings make him an easy target for Democrats to
blame, the president has also done what he can to help his party in the
cycle.
Hes raised millions of dollars for Democrats, and has held more fundraisers
in this cycle than did former President George W. Bush, who at the time was
seen as a prodigious fundraiser.
The White House has also sought to bolster Democrats by putting off
executive action on immigration reform at the expense of irritating
Hispanics and tabling an announcement of Attorney General Eric Holders
replacement.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest at one point in his press briefing
on Tuesday sought to shift some responsibility for the midterms to
Democratic candidates and to remind reporters that when Obama was on the
ballot in 2012, he won.
He conceded that Obama would get at least his fair share of the blame if
Democrats lose the Senate, but said the candidates were ultimately
responsible for how things turn out.
The success of many of these Democratic candidates will depend on their own
success in motivating voters that strongly supported the president in 2012,
Earnest said.
Ultimately, those Democratic candidates will have to develop their own
strategies in their states for figuring out how exactly to do that, he
continued. And there are people running in red states that have a strong
track record. ... So it should be their decision. Its ultimately their
campaign; its their name thats on the ballot.
Obama has acknowledged some mistakes over the past year, such as his
vacation-time decision to go to a Marthas Vineyard golf course after making
a public statement on ISISs killing of an American journalist.
Theres no doubt that after, having talked to the families, where it was
hard for me to hold back tears listening to the pain that they were going
through after the statement that I made, that I shouldve anticipated the
optics, Obama conceded later about his golf game.
Jim Manley, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.),
said the White House handling of Ebola and ISIS has been more damaging than
his comments tying Democrats to his policies.
I have a bigger problem with how theyve handled the Ebola situations or
some of the other issues in the past than this one, Manley said.
He joined other Democrats in arguing that the most recent comments to
Sharpton could even help Obamas party if they rally Democratic base voters
to the polls.
Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis said the presidents dilemma is that
hes walking a political tight rope of trying to motivate the base without
hurting his party with other voters.
Theres certainly a risk of underlining GOP arguments that the election is
about Obama. But the alternative is making the Democrats in their home
states think that theyre a pariah, Manley said. Maybe he could have been
a little more artful in his language, but it is what it is.
Amie Parnes contributed.
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni
katika machafuko"
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