Obama, campaigning again, blames D.C. mess on pols campaigning too much
By Andrew Malcolm
Posted 09:06 AM ET
An amazing scene in Boston yesterday.
Barack Obama returned to the city of one of his biggest triumphs (his 2004 Democrat convention speech) and one of his worst political spankings (the 2010 repudiation by Massachusetts Senate voters of his candidate).
Those were tough days for the ex-state legislator, you may remember. Virginia voters had just rejected Obama's choice for governor. New Jersey voters had just rejected Obama's choice for governor.
Both setbacks were indicators of the rising tide of dissatisfaction over Obama's preoccupation with ObamaCare when what voters really wanted was Joe Biden's three-letter word, "J-O-B-S."
Americans are still waiting for Obama's employment extravaganza. But meantime later in 2010, they turned the House over to Republicans in an historic surge. Obama now says his big goal is to get that speaker's gavel back in the more compliant hands of Nancy Pelosi.
In January, 2010, Massachusetts voters were filling Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, a seat occupied by Democrat bottoms since 1952. As in the middle of last century. Nine years before Obama was born you-know-where.
Hours before polls opened, Obama went up to Boston to campaign for and with Democrat Martha Coakley, as he'd done with his chosen ones in New Jersey and Virginia. Coakley had been slipping in the polls. And the White House wanted to give her one last push across the finish line.
Bay State Democrats responded to the president's special, special-election attention by electing lowly state legislator Scott Brown. Oh, look! He was a Republican.
Brown opted out last year and some Native American woman got in. Then this year Obama needed a new secretary of State to not rescue any Americans abroad surrounded by terrorists. He picked Sen. John Kerry, who represented Massachusetts, although he's moored his yacht in Rhode Island to save on property taxes.
Kerry's departure set up the current contest, a special June 25 election between long-time liberal Democrat Rep. Ed Markey, who's never missed a photo op with a PBS character, and Gabriel Gomez, a former fighter pilot and Navy SEAL turned businessman with his moderate GOP brand and Hispanic heritage. (Scroll to the bottom for a C-SPAN video of the June 5 Gomez-Markey debate.)
Markey has 36 years of Washington maneuvering to Gomez' none. But given the notorious mess in D.C. and Congress' historically low approval, combined with Obama's compounding scandals, Markey's really long tenure on Capitol Hill may not be the best advertisement for a return there.
Harry Hamburg / AP
Harry Hamburg / AP
Markey has been slipping in the polls and the White House wanted to give him one last push across the finish line. So, there they were on-stage Thursday, the guy with 18 House terms and the one with a fraction of a Senate term.
Here are some of the amazing things Obama came out with and their context:
"What’s holding us back right now is inaction in Washington, gridlock in Washington--too many folks in Washington who are putting the next election ahead of the next generation."
So, who is it who's out campaigning for the next election in Boston and Miami on the same day? And who is it who's back in Washington working on the problems?
"I want you to know I've run my last campaign." Really? So, all these fundraising trips on Air Force One are for last year's election? Or, in reality, the next elections in 2014?
According to the president, he awakens every day and asks himself: "How do I make America a magnet for good jobs?" He's been in office now for 1,604 wake-up calls. Where's the beef?
The 44th president said other familiar stuff--the old infrastructure spending line, educating children better, keeping every child safe from gun violence like his hometown isn't. Then, before flying down to Miami for more fundraisers, Obama claimed:
"My only concern is making sure that we advance the interests of the broadest number of Americans and we leave our children a stronger, safer, more prosperous country."
Another concern could be Obama's approval rating. It's seriously sagging beneath the weight of his administration's cascading scandals, which he has yet to explain beyond the infamous Sgt. Schultz line: I know nothing. The latest poll gives Obama only a 44% approval, down from 49% in February, with a disapproval rate of 50%, up from 45%.
The good news for Ed Markey is he's got the real old pro, Bill Clinton, coming in as the campaign closer Saturday. The 42d president may actually help the Senate candidate.