Argument for Obama getting involved in state politics

[babylonsister]

Yes, I'm aware McKinnon wrote this and he's a rethug. But he also makes perfect sense to me. I didn't know he used to work for Gov. Ann Richards.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-09-22/obamas-political-machine/full/


Karl Rove Redux: Why Obama Was Right to Diss David Paterson
by Mark McKinnon

Of course the White House is stepping into the New York governor's race and other key contests around the country. That's what presidents who want to win do.



A president getting involved in state political races? Shocking.

Actually, the only thing shocking would be a president who didn’t get involved in important races around the country. But people have an exalted view of President Obama and believe he shouldn’t get his hands dirty messing around in local politics. Or they think he campaigned above the partisan fray on a message that his presidency would not be politics as usual.

snip//

Presidents should do whatever possible and practical to encourage an environment of cooperation and bipartisanship. And they should maintain a certain level of decorum, diplomacy and decency. But, at the end of the day, presidents get elected to enact change. And in order to effect change, you need as many votes lined up behind you as possible. And in order to ensure you have those votes, you’ve got to drop the hammer and exert political muscle.

If Team Obama doesn’t convince David Paterson to drop out of the race for governor, they are going to have to deal with Governor Rudy Guiliani for a good long while. But New York isn’t the only place the White House is weighing in; they’ve been aggressive about endorsing candidates with contested primaries in Senate races in Colorado and Pennsylvania.

With good reason: 2010 is the year parties in power have leverage over the drawing of political districts.

It was pretty clear to me early on that President Obama understood the importance of maintaining and fueling a political machine. He was presented with the option to kill the budget for the political operations that work out of the White House. It would have sent a powerful signal about ending politics as usual. But then he would have handicapped his ability to enact the kind of change he’d promised his supporters.

So, he made the practical choice and said, “Yes, we can”—but only if that meant putting his opponents’ teeth on the sidewalk.

And so Obama faces some heat for rolling the dice and gambling politically. But, that’s how he got to the big game in the first place.

[Clio the Leo]

1. Works for me. NT

[Captain Hilts]

2. I know McKinnon, but I feel uncomfortable with the degree to which the WH

has tried to stomp on competitive primaries in PA, NY, etc.

You don't get an active, state level, Democratic parties with coronations of one candidate instead of a primary with two or three.

I think it also accelorates - I can't spell that word - the 'run for the center' among our candidates. I would like to see multiple views represented in debates.

[Cha]

3. Thanks for this babylonsister..it's what a lot of

people around here are saying too..and as a New Yorker I'm glad for any savvy intervention that will prevent a gov ghouliani.

Not to mention the Congress people who are up for re-election in 2010 that strategists think have a worse chance if Paterson is the top of the ticket.

Paterson keeps bringing Race into and now his wife has also gone there today.

<snip>>

"And underscoring Mr. Paterson’s weakened status, nearly 7 out of 10 voters approved of the job Mr. Cuomo was doing as the state’s top law enforcement official, while only 3 out of 10 approved of Mr. Paterson’s performance, according to a poll in late May and early June by The New York Times, Cornell University and New York 1 News.

The possible abandonment of Mr. Paterson by some labor leaders reflects a larger anxiety among Democrats, not just over their chances of maintaining control of the governor’s mansion, but also over the prospect that his problems will hurt other Democratic candidates on the ballot in 2010.

One powerful labor official said he felt it was a matter of time before leaders in the party asked Mr. Paterson directly to step aside for the sake of the party.

“There will be pressures from many quarters, not just labor,” said the official, who did not want to be identified for fear of antagonizing the governor. “Nobody wants a failed Democratic Party in New York — or a Republican governor.”

<more>>
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/nyregion/22unions.htm...

Blaming it on Race, too, and trying to drag the White House into it.

<snip>>

"Gov Paterson blamed a racist media Friday for trying to push him out of next year's election - launching into an angry rant that left even some black Democrats shaking their heads.

"The whole idea is to get me not to run in the primary," Paterson complained on a morning radio show hosted by Daily News columnist Errol Louis.

He suggested that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the country's only other African-American governor, also is under fire because of his race.

"We're not in the post-racial period," Paterson said.

"The reality is the next victim on the list - and you can see it coming - is President Barack Obama, who did nothing more than trying to reform a health care system."

Paterson said the campaign against him is being "orchestrated" by reporters who would rather make the news than report it.

But critics said the governor should blame his own blunders."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8666554&mesg_id=8666606

<snip>>

"The New York Post reports that David Paterson's wife today strayed onto the racially-charged turf the White House likes least, blasting Obama in pretty clear terms of solidarity:

She called it "very unfair" that the president asked New York's "first African-American governor" not to seek office.

"You never heard of that before," Michelle Paterson said. "David's the first African-American governor in the state of New York and he's being asked to get out of the race. It's very unusual and it seems very unfair."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0909/Patersons_revenge.html#comments

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8667728