Vulnerable Dems seek distance from Obama
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Alert: (.Baltimore Sun) As Congress begins picking through President Obama's vast election year budget,
many Democratic incumbents and candidates seem to be finding something they love - to campaign
against.
A Democratic Senate candidate in Missouri denounced the budget's sky-high deficit. A Florida Democrat
whose district includes the Kennedy Space Center hit the roof over NASA budget cuts. And an endangered
Senate Democrat denounced proposed cuts in farm subsidies.
A headline on the 2010 campaign website of Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), blares her opposition to
Obama's farm budget: ``Blanche stands up for Arkansas farm families,'' it says.
Heading into an election season in which Republicans are trying to tie Democrats to Obama's unpopular
policies, Obama's budget gives his fellow Democrats an unlikely campaign tool - a catalogue of ways to
establish their distance from controversial aspects of his administration.
It is a time-tested campaign tactic for politicians to declare their independence of party leaders. But the tactic
is particularly important for Democrats this year, because their party dominates Washington, and being an
insider is a political liability in an anti-incumbent climate.
Underscoring that dynamic, Obama held a question-and-answer session with Senate Democrats on
Wednesday, drawing polite challenges from a procession of incumbents up for reelection.
Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), a recent party-switcher, questioned trade policies battering the steel industry.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) asked about health care for first responders involved in the Sept. 11attack.
The message from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.): ``California is hurting.''
All that underscores a potential gap between Obama's governing agenda and congressional Democrats'
political interest in the election. While Democrats on the ballot encounter stiff headwinds, Obama is asking
them look at the big picture on the budget, take on tough issues, and let the politics take care of themselves.
``If anybody's searching for a lesson from Massachusetts, I promise you, the answer is not to do nothing,"
Obama told the Senate Democrats. "We've got to finish the job on health care. We've got to finish the job on
financial regulatory reform. We've got to finish the job, even though it's hard."
Since his State of the Union address last week, Obama has offered a spirited defense of his agenda, his
feisty demeanor an implicit promise of support for those Democrats who work with him. At a time when
some might be thinking about parting ways with his agenda, Obama is pressing his case that now is not the
time to abandon the ideals that swept him into office.
While Democrats agree with Obama's broad goals, they do not agree with all it takes to achieve them -
especially in his budget, which makes little short-term progress in deficit reduction yet calls for spending
cuts in many programs.
Lincoln is a dedicated proponent of fiscal responsibility. But she sharply denounced the cuts in farm
subsidies that are so important to her state. That is not only good constituent service, but good 2010 politics
in a state that voted heavily against Obama in the 2008 election.
Wednesday's meeting with Obama gave Lincoln a televised opportunity to challenge Obama on a broader
question. As one of eight Democrats hand-picked by party leaders to question the president, all but one up
for re-election this year, Lincoln urged Obama to ``to push back against people in our own party that want
extremes.''
Then, in short order, her campaign website featured a news report: ``Lincoln challenges Obama on liberal
`extremes.'"
Elsewhere around the country, Rep. Suzanne Kosmas - a freshman Democrat from a Republican leaning
part of Florida - minced no words in complaining about Obama's proposed cuts to the NASA budget. The
space industry is one of the largest employers in her district.
``The president's proposal lacks a bold vision for space exploration and begs for the type of leadership that
he has described as critical for inspiring innovation for the 21st century,'' said Kosmas.
In the swing state of Missouri, Democratic Senate candidate Robin Carnahan wasted no time this week
denouncing Obama's budget as profligate.
``I'm disappointed in the president's budget recommendation,'' she said. ``Missouri families have to balance
their checkbooks and our government is no different.''
Democrats trumpet that split between their candidate and Obama as Carnahan tries to run as an outsider.
But Republicans have tagged her ``Rubberstamp Robin'' for supporting Obama's health care bill and other
congressional initiatives.
Probably no vulnerable Democrat has more of a burden in defending Obama's budget than Rep. John Spratt
(D-S.C.), the House Budget Committee Chairman who is facing a strong opponent in his
Republican-leaning district.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has already run an ad attacking him for his record in
handling deficit-laden budgets. But Spratt has not shied from his association with the volatile issue. When
Obama's budget was delivered to Capitol Hill Monday, Spratt joined in a ``photo op'' for its reception.
The photo was run on a conservative blog under the headline: ``Budget now in Spratt's liberal hands.''
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Obama adviser: Amnesty to ensure 'progressive' rule
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Alert: (WND) Granting citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants would expand the "progressive" electorate
and help ensure a "progressive" governing coalition for the long term, declared a recent adviser to President
Obama whose union group is among the most frequent visitors to the White House.
"We reform the immigration laws, it puts 12 million people on the path to citizenship and eventually voters,"
stated Eliseo Medina, international executive vice-president of Service Employees International Union, or
SEIU.
Medina was speaking at a June 2009 Washington conference for the liberal America's Future Now!
Medina said that during the presidential election in November 2008, Latinos and immigrants "voted
overwhelmingly for progressive candidates. Barack Obama got two out of every three voters that showed up."
"Can you imagine if we have, even the same ratio, two out of three? Can you imagine 8 million new voters
who care about our issues and will be voting? We will be creating a governing coalition for the long term, not
just for an election cycle."
The SEIU is closely linked to the controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or
ACORN. SEIU President Andrew Stern was the most frequently logged White House visitor, according to an
official list released in October.
Medina and the SEIU are top supporters of Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez's Comprehensive Immigration
Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Bill, which seeks to document up to 12 million illegal
immigrants inside the U.S.
During the most recent presidential campaign, Medina and Gutierrez served on Obama's National Latino
Advisory Council. Also on the council was Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., the co-sponsor of Gutierrez's
immigration reform bill.
Medina was a chief lobbyist credited with a change in the longstanding policy of the AFL-CIO, the largest
union federation in the U.S. The union reversed its stance against illegal immigration in February 2000,
instead calling for new amnesty for millions of illegals.
The New Zeal blog documents how Medina was honored in 2004 by Chicago's Democratic Socialists of
America for his "vital role in the AFL-CIO's reassessment of its immigration policy." That same year, Medina
became a DSA honorary chairman.
The DSA also supported Gutierrez's 1998 bid for Congress. In the mid-1990s, Gutierrez served on the board
of Illinois Public Action alongside a number of DSA members, including Obama health-care advisor Quentin
Young.
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