President Obama is planning a two-day campaign across three swing states next week to promote his energy policy, firing up Republicans who say the president is too focused on his reelection campaign and not enough on governing.
Obama will travel to Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Ohio, with planned stops at a solar panel factory and an oil production field to “highlight his administration’s all-of-the above-energy strategy” that would expand oil production, tighten fuel economy standards and invest in renewable energy sources, according to senior administration officials.
The Midwest tour is another sign that Obama is shifting into full campaign mode after the president spent Friday working five fundraisers in Illinois and Georgia.
“After three years of failed policies, broken promises and a seemingly-endless supply of empty rhetoric, it is abundantly clear that President Obama has given up on governing and is only concerned about campaigning to save his own job,” said National Republican Committeeman Pat Brady of Illinois.
Obama has attended nearly four times as many fundraisers this year as his predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, did over a similar period during his first term. Obama attended his 40th fundraiser of the year last week. Bush had attended just 11 at this point in 2004, according to the nonpartisan American Presidency Project.
Obama’s campaign aides say the president is filling his schedule with fundraisers in preparation for a spending war with Republican billionaires who are pumping unlimited amounts of cash into so-called super PACs that will help the eventual Republican nominee defeat him in November.
“You’ve got the Koch brothers who declared to a group of contributors to their operation that defeating Obama is the mother of all wars,” said Obama Senior Strategist David Axelrod, referring to the billionaire Republican brothers David and Charles Koch. “You’ve got Karl Rove who’s pledged to raise $250 million dollars for super PAC spending. … That is a big concern.”
Super political action committees can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to support a candidate’s campaign, as long as the groups do not coordinate with the candidate they support.
In the end, “money does matter,” Axelrod said.
Obama’s campaign travel this year has included trips to Illinois, New York, Florida, California, Washington and Texas. Last week, prior to Friday’s full day of fundraising in Chicago and Atlanta, Obama twice blasted the Republican presidential candidates as Flat Earthers for doubting his energy policies and for claiming that, as president, they could lower gas prices. While the events weren’t billed as campaign-related, Obama’s remarks and tone were very similar to those of his fundraising speeches.
First Lady Michelle Obama has also hit the campaign trail to promote her husband for a second term, notching her 17th fundraiser of the year over the weekend. She is scheduled to attend two more Democratic National Committee events on Monday.
The White House maintains that Obama isn’t even focused on his reelection campaign.
“There will be a gradual increase in the amount of his time that [Obama] spends on political events,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney. “But we are a long way from the point where that becomes a significant part of his schedule. We’re just not there yet.”
