President Obama is not even preparing for a political world in which Republicans control both the House and Senate, the White House said Tuesday.
When asked whether Obama had considered what “life would be like” with a Republican Senate, White House press secretary Josh Earnest replied, “Uh, not really.”
Republicans are increasingly bullish about their chances of taking back the Senate in the Nov. 4 midterm elections, and Obama has been on the defensive for linking his agenda to vulnerable Democratic senators.
First, Obama conceded that his policies were effectively “on the ballot” in the 2014 elections. And on Monday he suggested that Democrats trying to distance themselves from the White House actually support his actions and are doing so purely for political preservation.
For his part, Earnest on Tuesday insisted that the Senate is “absolutely not” a lost cause for Democrats in November.
Obama has refrained from appearing alongside embattled Democratic senators, but the White House says the president is playing a central role in motivating the liberal base to show up in November.
“The success of many of these Democratic candidates,” Earnest said, “will depend on their own success in motivating voters who strongly supported the president in 2012.”
