In an article published this week in the Washington Post, writers Scott Wilson and Phillip Rucker detail the most significant sea change yet in the thought process of President Barack Obama.
The writers indicate that the President has committed to eight fundraisers for Democrats in Congress. Presumably these fundraisers will be for members of the House of Representatives and those who are seeking to unseat republicans.
The President’s campaign organization, described as formidable in the article and known as Organizing for Action will lend its considerable share of voter data to the Democratic Party’s attempt next year to put the right candidates in place to win elections.
The magic number is 17. That is the number of seats the democrats need to win in the House while maintaining control of the Senate in order to gain a majority. 17.
With this sharp turn in the thinking of the President and his staff, it marks the first public showing that the President is thinking in purely political terms, and to an extent, selfish terms, as he approaches the halfway point of his second term.
In both the Inaugural and State of the Union addresses, the President made it clear that his agenda is not the agenda of the opposition party. His actions continue to be the polar opposite of those espoused by Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: the Defense of Marriage Act, defending the Voting Rights Act, Gun Control, financial support of the states suffering recent hurricane damage, immigration reform, and balancing the budget with equal revenues and budget cuts.
Despite his “Jedi mind meld” scifi faux pas, in which he answered a reporter’s question on persuading the republican leadership to just go along with his efforts, President Obama seems to have finally adopted the attitude that he will go forward despite and without republican cooperation. A move many in his party had hoped for in his first term. It is clear with his reelection that had the President proceeded in this way, he would not have shown the majority of voters that it was he who has tried to be a statesman and not the opposition.
17 seats. 17 wins. The work has begun. The republicans however, are still trying to figure out who they are and what they will sell to the public that will justify keeping them in control of one wing of the national government.
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