by Jules Witcover

Midterm congressional elections, with no White House occupant on the ballot, are crapshoots for the party in control of the Oval Office. Voter turnout falls off sharply and presidential coattails are either non-existent or of questionable value.

Until recent weeks, before President Obama rescued a seemingly sinking bid for health-care reform, the Democrats' prospects for retaining control of the House and Senate in November were widely viewed as slim. Republican stonewalling combined with public anger at official Washington were casting a pall over the future of the Obama era.

Predictions of a one-term presidency were growing, with the last three years of Obama's tenure characterized by many as a steady drift into political stalemate, eroding the dream of "change you can believe in" promised by the Chicago pied piper in the 2008 campaign.

The historical record of presidents losing congressional strength in their first midterm elections still casts a cloud over the Obama presidency. But his recent resurgence has stirred Democratic hopes that the damage can be minimized if not altogether avoided.

The prospect of passing major financial industry reform on the heels of his health-care victory, and the president's strong assertion of leadership on arms control and other foreign policy initiatives, have fanned that guarded optimism.

Accordingly, White House strategists are dusting off the memory of Obama's political magic of 2008 with a specific call to the faithful to replicate their enthusiasm and energy in behalf of Democratic House and Senate candidates across the country this fall.

In a new video to be circulated by the Obama grassroots effort called Organizing for America, the president reminds his flock that "a few months ago, we asked you to help us set our priorities for 2010, and let us know how you thought we could win elections at all levels of government. You told us your first priority was to make sure the same people who were inspired to vote for the first time in 2008 go back to the polls in 2010.

"So that's what we're going to do. ... It will be up to each of you to make sure that the young people, African Americans, Latinos and women, who powered our victory in 2008 stand together once again. ... If you help us do that -- if you help us make sure that first-time voters in 2008 make their voices heard again in November -- then together we will deliver on the promise of change, hope and prosperity for generations to come."

Democratic National Chairman Tim Kaine, the former governor of Virginia, is reported by Politico to be poised to oversee the spending of $50 million to urge 15 million Americans who voted for Obama in 2008 to turn out in the midterms as the practical means of keeping his and their aspirations alive.

Kaine told the Washington Post: "Our story begins with, Democrats are results people and the Republicans are political obstructionists. Do we want to continue the direction that sees us climbing out of the recession or do we want to go back to the same policies that put us in the ditch in the first place?"

Somewhat belatedly, the Obama administration apparently has come to the recognition that part of its pitch in November, beyond reminding voters of the proposed changes they supported, must recall what got the country in such an economic mess during the previous Republican administration.

While Obama himself has increasingly cited that history, he also until now has counseled a general policy of looking forward, not backward, to put the nation on a more constructive course. It has been a policy frustrating to some liberal Democrats who favored a congressional inquiry into how the Republicans led the country to war in Iraq under questionable premises.

But what is likely to be more persuasive in getting 2008 Obama voters to turn out for Democratic midterm candidates is the concerted Republican obstructionism in Congress demonstrated since the last election. With Obama himself out on the campaign stump hammering the message, the objective is to rekindle the spark that he ignited then.

 

Available at Amazon.com:

Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks

The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House

 

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Midterm Congressional Elections: Replicating Obama 2008 | Politics

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