In terms of a serious question, you’d call it a loaded question. In comedy, you call it a set up line. But, call it what you will, after a truly disastrous political week, the Obama campaign has really…truly…honestly..not joking…asked its supporters to grade it. They’re asking for an overall grade, not just for the past week or two (when the grade would have to be F or perhaps D+):
President Obama’s campaign is calling on supporters to grade its performance amid a difficult early June for his reelection bid against presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney.
“Difficult” is not the word. Saying it was a “difficult” month for Team Obama is like saying New Orleans had a little rain during Katrina.
In the space of the past month you can say the narrative has changed from presumptive nominee Mitt Romney gearing up and recovering from stubbing his political toe to try and pull even with front-runner Obama , to Romney’s campaign now looking slick, raising more money than Obama’s and Obama & Company increasingly on the defensive in terms of its campaign and the likely negative impact of factors such as the ailing economy — and the unfolding economic meltdown in Europe:
“This campaign is ramping up, and the decisions we make right now will shape our path to victory in November,” said campaign manager Jim Messina in an email to supporters sent Saturday night.
“This campaign is ramping up, and the decisions we make right now will shape our path to victory in November,” said campaign manager Jim Messina in an email to supporters sent Saturday night.
If the past week was “ramping up,’ then what is falling down?
“That’s why I want your input, because you are the ones building this campaign on the ground in your community. We want to know from you what’s working, what we could be doing better, what you care about, and what you’re hearing about the President and this campaign,” said Messina.
The email contains a link to a survey asking backers to rate which issues are most important to them and the effectiveness of the campaign’s efforts so far.
The supporter survey comes on the heels of a difficult month for the president, which saw Obama’s team on the defensive over a still weak economy, a set-back for Democrats and labor groups in Wisconsin’s recall election, a strong fundraising month for rival Romney and increasing congressional anger over a series of national security leaks.
On Friday, Obama compounded his woes on the economy when he was forced to quickly walk back a remark saying that the private sector was “doing fine.” Republicans, led by Romney, who said it showed Obama “out of touch with the American people,” quickly pounced on the statement.
On Tuesday, Democrats also suffered an embarrassing defeat in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial recall election, raising questions about whether the key state could be won by Republicans in November. Obama, who sought to distance himself from the effort, faced criticism from many in his own party for not doing more to back Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s (D) bid to unseat GOP Gov. Scott Walker.
Obama was also forced to reject growing Republican calls to maintain the Bush era-tax rates, which are set to expire, after former President Bill Clinton appeared to endorse the idea in a CNBC interview.
Adding to those worries, the administration announced Friday that two U.S. attorneys would investigate the disclosure of classified intelligence information which has spurred bipartisan anger. Republicans though have pushed for a special independent counsel to investigate the leaks.
The survey asks respondents for feedback about Obama’s accomplishments, which they’re proudest of, how their campaign ads are doing, etc.
If you graded on a curve you could perhaps give the Obama campaign a C- for June — a month when the campaign seemed to be heading to going off a cliff, partially due to increasing signs of Democratic disunity over the use of the Bain Capital issue, foot-in-mouth-disease that has apparently inflicted top Democrats and a general sense that in terms of political skills the Democrats seem to be no match for the GOP operation.
The days of the aggressive Carville-style Democratic campaign seem long gone and it almost seems as if the hapless Dukakis campaign has returned to town…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.