President Obama, the central figure of the 2014 midterms, is nowhere to be seen in competitive Senate battlegrounds, and that’s just the way Democrats want it.
For years, Democrats grumbled that Obama wasn’t actively involved in the contests that would determine control of Congress, selectively deciding when to help liberal candidates hoping to bask in his star power.
Now, as Republicans turn the November elections into a referendum on the president’s policies, Democrats are saying “thanks but no thanks” to an assist from Obama.
The White House has received the message.
Obama this week is traveling to New York City, Connecticut, San Francisco and Los Angeles to raise cash for the Democratic Party, limiting himself to liberal enclaves rather than risk damaging Democratic candidates attempting to show their independence from a president with approval ratings that hover around 40 percent.
Missing are the headline-grabbing events where Obama shares the stage with a Democratic candidate hoping for a bounce from some presidential backslapping.
It’s a humbling experience for a president who once insisted that “we are not a collection of red states and blue states” and banked that his political brand could transcend ideological divides.
“Everybody wants to be wanted, even the president of the United States,” a former senior administration official told the Washington Examiner. “It certainly is humbling. But it’s reality. The president is realistic about when and where he can help the Democratic Party.”
Traveling to places such as Louisiana, Arkansas and Alaska is a nonstarter for the president, given that he is a political albatross in those tossup states.
But observers have been surprised by how few events Obama has headlined with candidates in solidly blue states who could benefit from such exposure. Closed-door fundraisers have become standard operating practice for the White House just a month before elections that will define the president’s final years in office.
And such an approach is particularly striking with the likes of former President Clinton campaigning in Arkansas for Democratic Sen. Mary Pryor and even first lady Michelle Obama hitting the trail for a handful of governors seeking re-election.
The White House on Monday attempted to defend the president’s lack of marquee events with Democratic candidates.
“You’re right, however, to point out that the president has not begun a sustained campaign of campaign-related activities, if you will,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “But you know, the president has talked in a variety of settings, including in some of the fundraising settings that you have observed, that he feels strongly about how important it is for candidates who share his view about putting in place politics that benefit middle-class families be either elected or re-elected to office.”
Whether Obama campaigns with Democrats or not, his shadow will still hang over the midterms. Republicans are seizing on Obama’s admission that his “policies are on the ballot — every single one of them,” even though he is not running for office.
And Democrats were hardly thrilled by the admission.
“It’s kind of like putting a neon light on a problem the American public has figured out,” said Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf.
“Politicians are risk-averse,” he said of Obama’s travel schedule. “Right now, having Barack Obama with you may not help you get elected.”
Obama has to decide between now and November if he is satisfied simply raising money for Democratic candidates or whether to appear alongside them at campaign events — and risk absorbing the blame for potential defeat.
But Obama can’t blame his current predicament on the second-term curse that afflicted some of his predecessors, analysts said.
“Historically, the president’s party has struggled in midterm elections, but I don’t think becoming an unpopular president is a foregone conclusion,” said Nathan Gonzales, deputy editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. “That just doesn’t make any sense. If President Obama made more decisions that more people agreed with, he would be more popular and Democrats would be in better position this November.”
