Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Then & now: What (exempt) Dems say about Obama
The Hill ^ | 2/19/14 | Alexander Bolton

Posted on 02/25/2014 2:44:18 AM PST by Libloather

Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) embraced President Obama’s lofty call for hope and change when he and other Democrats gathered in Denver six years ago to celebrate the Illinois senator’s nomination.

The festive buzz has long since faded and Udall has dropped his talk of “our time” and “our moment” when discussing the president. He’s not even sure if he wants Obama back in his state after the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act left some of his constituents fuming.

“Coloradoans are going to re-elect me based on my record, not the president’s record. Not what the president’s done but what I’ve done and how I have stood up for Colorado,” he told CNN recently.

Udall refused to commit to even appearing with the president, whose approval ratings have sunk to the low 40s.

“We’ll see what the schedule allows. I’m running for reelection, not the president,” he added.

It’s a striking difference from six years ago, when Udall basked in the popularity of Obama.

Udall spoke at Invesco Field on the final day of the Democratic nominating convention before tens of thousands of people who were eagerly awaiting Obama’s appearance.

“This is our time,” Udall declared triumphantly. “This is our moment to change the course of history.”

Udall’s seat is relatively safe this year, compared to a handful of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate. But Udall and other Democrats who rode high on Obama-mania are seeking to change the subject when the president’s name is uttered.

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska)

The freshman used strong language when he recently discussed the possibility of Obama visiting his red-leaning home state.

Begich said he would “drag him around” to show him the real-life impact of his policies and “bang him over the heads a few times” to hammer home the message that he should open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

In 2008, when he first ran for the upper chamber, Begich was still talking about energy issues. But his tone was strikingly different; he described Obama as a potential ally after meeting with him one-on-one.

“I appreciated the opportunity to meet alone with Sen. Obama,” he said at the time after pressing Obama to support a natural-gas pipeline. “He was quite knowledgeable about Alaska issues and he understood the need for the gas line.”

Begich has noted that when he won his seat in 2008, Obama lost Alaska by nearly 22 points. In 2012, Obama lost the state by 14 points.

Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist who advised Sen. Joe Manchin (D), a centrist who ran in conservative-leaning West Virginia in 2010, the last GOP wave year, said vulnerable incumbents need to establish their independence.

“You’ve got to outline your vision for the state and for the country and where there are differences between you and the president, you should make those,” he said. “Where there are similarities, you should embrace those.

“Some of these senators, especially in these particular states, have more differences now than they did a few years ago,” he said.

Manchin illustrated his differences with Obama in the most memorable campaign ad of 2010, which featured him blasting the president’s cap-and-trade carbon emissions proposal with a hunting rifle. After getting elected, Manchin said Obama “has failed to lead.”

Vulnerable Democratic senators this year haven’t gone that far — at least, not yet.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)

Shaheen has emerged as one of the toughest critics of the faulty rollout of ObamaCare.

The former governor vented her frustrations during a private meeting of the Senate Democratic Caucus and White House chief of staff Denis McDonough in late October. She asked what the administration’s contingency plan was in case technical problems plaguing the website were not fixed. One lawmaker presenter described her as “agitated.”

Last month she made public a letter taking Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to task about the law’s impact on hospitals.

“I have heard from consumers who have been left without access to the provider with whom they had built a long-standing relationship,” she wrote.

By contrast, she sounded almost exultant when she described Obama as “our amazing Democratic nominee” in 2008.

Ross K. Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University who worked in the Senate as a senior adviser and scholar-in-residence, said it’s nothing personal. It’s just a matter of political survival.

“Members of Congress who are running for reelection have a preternatural sense of survival and what it takes to survive,” he said. “You might imagine that the president would be hurt and offended by people disowning him, but any seasoned politician understands that for somebody up for re-election it’s any port in a storm, and this particular port is not called Port Obama.”

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.)

Hagan stayed away from Obama when he visited North Carolina to announce the creation of a high-tech manufacturing institute. Her office said she had to stay in Washington for votes; her calculation may have included not wanting to give conservative critics any more ammo for political ads.

Americans for Prosperity, a group funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, released a Web video last month that described Hagan and Obama as best friends because of her vote for the Affordable Care Act.

Six years ago, Hagan attended campaign rallies with Obama and his wife, Michelle. Obama won North Carolina in 2008 and lost it in 2012.

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.)

Pryor backed Hillary Clinton over Obama in the 2008 presidential primary. Pressed back then on whether he would back Obama in the general election, Pryor said he would and that he was “very comfortable with him.”

Following last month’s State of the Union address, Pryor said he was “disappointed” with the president’s speech. Obama was “heavy on rhetoric, but light on specifics about how we can move our country forward,” he said. Pryor then added he has opposed Obama on gun control, the Keystone XL oil pipeline and military action in Syria.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: dems; exempt; flexible0bama; obama; rats
Alison Lundergan Grimes - “I speak for myself. I don't need any other surrogate to do that,” she announced Monday in a MSNBC interview with Kasie Hunt, when asked if the President would be joining her on the campaign trail.
1 posted on 02/25/2014 2:44:18 AM PST by Libloather
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Libloather

The stupid Dimocraps must learn to reap what they sow.
The same goes for the other idiots that thought they had to prove that they were not racist by voting for the illegal alien Kenyan Marxist.


2 posted on 02/25/2014 2:58:41 AM PST by AlexW
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

>> “[Democrat] Members of Congress who are running for reelection have a preternatural sense of survival and what it takes to survive,” he said.

In other words, avoid Obama.


3 posted on 02/25/2014 2:58:49 AM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

Reality finally set in. . . . . .


4 posted on 02/25/2014 3:01:05 AM PST by DeaconRed (ZERO:THE Money For Nothing KING: The little faggot has his own jet airplane. He is a millionaire! !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

I don’t know who is more stupid, these elected Dems or the people who voted for them.


5 posted on 02/25/2014 3:24:20 AM PST by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

Soon, at least one in every American home will
be murdered/killed/ravaged-by-disease-ignored
by ObamaCARE, and the EXEMPT who foisted this on everyone
except their own staff, and their own families,
WILL be remembered into Eternity along with
the unAmerican abomination, known as
the undocumented pRes_ _ent.


6 posted on 02/25/2014 3:43:58 AM PST by Diogenesis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

- “flexible” 0bama

- Is Udall the one that is opting the Canadian Pipeline - because he has financial interests in another pipeline company?

- Is that “in-sleezer trading” or what? What would Martha Stewart think of that?


7 posted on 02/25/2014 3:49:23 AM PST by devolve (- as I reach the vinyl curtain - I shall continue to misspell simple words - but I did it - my whey)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

If you are in the Senate and have followed lock-step with Reid, you can’t distance yourself from Obama.


8 posted on 02/25/2014 3:54:42 AM PST by pas
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather
“This is our moment to change the course of history.”

And change it we did. In 2008 America indulged itself in a fit of voting for the cool kid in high school (unfortunately, instead of Grampa). We will never fully recover from that, just as we've never fully recovered from FDR and from LBJ.

9 posted on 02/25/2014 4:08:45 AM PST by Hardastarboard (The question of our age is whether a majority of Americans can and will vote us all into slavery.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

They’ll run back to him once they’re back in office. These people live for the moment. No “big picture”. They do and say everything and anything to get re-elected.

Once they’re within range of another election, they access their chances of a win and fine tune. There’s not a shred of honesty in any of them. Lying becomes the norm. And they lie to everyone. Family, friends, constituents, it doesn’t matter. They don’t know they’re lying anymore.


10 posted on 02/25/2014 4:13:52 AM PST by albie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: caver
I don’t know who is more stupid, these elected Dems or the people who voted for them.

It's equal.

11 posted on 02/25/2014 4:42:23 AM PST by b4its2late (A Progressive is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

The excuse that these Rats voted for Obamacare, but didn’t know what was in the bill, doesn’t exactly inspire trust. It raises questions about their competency to understand any bill they vote on. Or whether they just blindly follow the leader of their party.


12 posted on 02/25/2014 5:08:12 AM PST by randita
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: randita

Tar.
Feathers...


13 posted on 02/25/2014 5:14:46 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks ("Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: b4its2late; Libloather; caver

I would say that the con artist is smarter than those he cons so the voters are dumber than the clowns they elect. I know that leaves you wondering how those who voted big D straight ticket manage to tie their own shoes but that is how I see it.

Regrettably, most of the current GOP crowd are only Rinos and many who would never vote D are becoming too discouraged to go to the polls again. I am hearing it more and more from people who say they have voted straight Republican in the past but say they just don’t know if it is even worth the gas to go the polls next time. Between Rinos and democrat vote fraud it is hard to get people to believe in the process now.


14 posted on 02/25/2014 5:26:11 AM PST by RipSawyer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Libloather

“Coloradoans are going to re-elect me based on my record, not the president’s record.”

Got news for ya, Mark. The President’s record is your record.


15 posted on 02/25/2014 7:08:30 AM PST by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RipSawyer

Good points!


16 posted on 02/25/2014 7:40:29 AM PST by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: RipSawyer

Good points and yes, there were some on the right the first go around because he was the first black president. Many of those probably decided not to come out and vote in 2012. Just a hunch on my part. I have no stats to back it up.


17 posted on 02/25/2014 1:05:36 PM PST by b4its2late (A Progressive is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson