President Obama has lent his biggest asset, the bully pulpit, to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton this summer, a trend that’s likely to grow more pronounced this fall as the two work together to defeat Donald Trump.
Obama has shared or conceded headlines to his would-be successor on two major issues over the last few weeks: gun control and the fight to contain the Zika virus.
Obama and his surrogates did not call on lawmakers to return to Washington to approve spending to combat the Zika virus before decamping to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., for the president’s annual summer vacation. That left a major opening for Clinton.
During a visit to Miami last week, Clinton said Republican leaders should reconvene Congress now to sign off on emergency spending legislation, something Democrats and Republicans couldn’t agree on before adjourning for a seven-week break.
Her argument mirrored one Obama has used repeatedly against congressional Republicans, but one he opted not to employ before leaving Washington Aug. 6.
“Not only did the Republican-led Congress not pass our request, they worked to cut it,” Obama said during an Aug. 4 news conference at the Pentagon. “And then they left for summer recess without passing any new funds for the fight against Zika… So, once again, I want to urge the American people to call their members of Congress and tell them to do their job, deal with this threat, help protect the American people from Zika.”
And on a deeply emotional issue for Obama, gun control, he has also made room for Clinton to make her case without interference.
While Democrats accused GOP nominee Donald Trump of inviting gun-rights advocates to physically harm Clinton, Obama kept quiet. He even passed when given a forum Monday — a Cape Cod fundraiser in which he didn’t mention guns or Zika.
“Frankly I’m tired of talking about her opponent,” Obama told the group of high-dollar Democratic donors. “I don’t have to make the case against her opponent because every time he talks, he makes the case against his own candidacy.”
In the wake of deadly attacks on police in multiple cities, Obama could not ignore the issue completely. But after conceding a year ago that any tightening of gun laws will not happen during his tenure, he acknowledged as early as July that the debate has moved past him.
And at the Democratic National Convention, he clearly passed the baton on gun safety to Clinton when he dedicated only one paragraph to the topic during his speech in Philadelphia.
“If you want to protect our kids and our cops from gun violence, we’ve got to get the vast majority of Americans, including gun owners, who agree on things like background checks to be just as vocal and just as determined as the gun lobby that blocks change through every funeral that we hold,” he said.
Clinton dedicated a portion of her speech to the topic, making many of the kinds of statements and pledges Obama used to make.
“And if we’re serious about keeping our country safe, we also can’t afford to have a president who’s in the pocket of the gun lobby,” Clinton said, echoing a charge Obama has levied against congressional Republicans countless times. “We will work tirelessly with responsible gun owners to pass common-sense reforms and keep guns out of the hands of criminals, terrorists and all others who would do us harm.”
Obama’s move to let Clinton speak to these issues has also signaled gun-control advocates that they too need to focus their attention on Clinton, the person they hope will replace Obama in the White House next year. And many have.
“When I heard Donald Trump say that Second Amendment people can do something about it if they don’t like Hillary’s judicial appointments, I knew his allies in the gun lobby would stand by him,” former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wrote in a fundraising appeal for Clinton last week.
Giffords, a Democrat from Arizona, was nearly assassinated during a constituent meeting at a Tucson-area grocery store in 2011.
“Hillary isn’t afraid” of the National Rifle Association, wrote the Arizona lawmaker-turned-advocate. “She’s courageous, and if she’s president, she’ll take on the gun lobby in Washington, just like she has her entire career. That’s why I’m fighting for my friend Hillary.”
