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Cracker Squire

THE MUSINGS OF A TRADITIONAL SOUTHERN DEMOCRAT

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Location: Douglas, Coffee Co., The Other Georgia, United States

Sid in his law office where he sits when meeting with clients. Observant eyes will notice the statuette of one of Sid's favorite Democrats.

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Now he tells us, a trip to Atlanta too late: The last thing Barnes needs right now is a photo of the former governor at an Obama fundraiser.

The New York Times has an article in Sunday's edition entitled "To Help Democrats in the Fall, Obama May Stay Away."

The Democrats referred to in the headline are Democratic members of Congress. I wish the President had been willing to extend the same courtesy to Governor Barnes.

I had written the following prior to seeing this article this morning, and had gotten tied up on something else and not finished the post:

A 7-15-10 post entitled "House Democrats hit boiling point over perceived lack of White House support" is about U.S. House Democrats angry with Obama, and accuse administration officials of undermining the party's chances of retaining the majority in November's midterm elections.

The post notes that "Rahm Emanuel knows as well as anyone the challenges moderate and conservative Democrats face in their districts. I think there are some, in the administration and in Congress, who don't fully understand the political dynamics."

The words I might use -- and I use them cautiously and not without abandon -- to describe those in the White House other than Rahm Emanuel is that they don't seem to care. The White House cares about itself but not about the House Democrats facing difficult mid-term elections.

Coming to Georgia at this particular time for a fundraiser for Obama with Roy Barnes running so well is a similar situation in which I think it is almost patently obvious that the White House is showing that it just doesn't care.

And a fundraiser not for State candidates assuming he had been invited, but for Obama and the DNC. Go figure.

From the ajc:


This is where I am picking up Sunday with my previously uncompleted post. And you don't need to go to the just noted link. It has been taken down, and thus I could not provide any of the article discussing Barnes' campaign manager Chris Carperter explaining that Roy already had prior plans to be in the Other Georgia when Obama visits Atlanta tomorrow.

The article did discuss the obvious that the last thing Barnes' campaign needs right now is a photo of the former governor at an Obama fundraiser.

(Remember the photo of Buddy Darden jogging on the Washington Mall with President Clinton in 1994; some analysts attribute this photo to Darden's loss to Bob Barr.)

Jim Galloway also discusses Barnes' planned absence at the fundraiser in a post in the ajc's Political Insider entitled "Guess who won’t be coming to lunch with Obama?"

Mr. Galloway notes that

it is simply a fact that many other Democrats can’t afford to be seen with a president awarded a 37 percent approval rating by Georgia voters just last month.

“My question is, when I first heard [Obama] was coming was, why did they do it? Who are the brains in Washington that thought, let’s do something in Georgia — and that it would benefit the candidates in Georgia?” [Steve] Anthony [, the former chief of staff for the late House Speaker Tom Murphy and now his biographer with “Witness to History: A Memoir”] asked.

“Here you’ve got a decent situation for a Democrat to win the governor’s race. Their move here could endanger that,” he added.


For the life of me I can't figure it, and I sure do so much regret it.

Anyway, back to the day late, dollar short article in The New York Times entitled "To Help Democrats in the Fall, Obama May Stay Away" that reads in part as follows:

As lunch was served in the Roosevelt Room of the White House one day last week, President Obama assured the nine Democratic members of Congress sitting around the table that he would do anything he could to help them survive their fall elections.

Even, he said, if it meant staying away.

“You may not even want me to come to your district,” Mr. Obama said, according to guests, nearly all of whom hold seats that Republicans are aggressively seeking.

It is a vivid shift from the last two elections, when Mr. Obama was the hottest draw for Democratic candidates in red and blue states alike.

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