ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Buck up. Stop whining. And get to work.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden scolded fellow Democrats even as they rallied them Tuesday in an effort to save the party from big GOP gains in the crucial midterm elections.
“It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines,” the president declared in a Rolling Stone magazine interview. He said that supposed supporters who are “sitting on their hands complaining” are irresponsible because the consequences of Republican congressional victories could be dashed Democratic plans.
He gave an example during a backyard conversation with New Mexico voters, arguing that Republicans would reverse the progress he’s made on education policy and student aid. “That’s the choice that we’ve got in this election,” Obama said, underscoring the stakes of Nov. 2 before heading to a rally at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
It’s the first of four large rallies planned for the campaign homestretch as the president tries to rekindle some of his 2008 campaign magic and fire up young supporters and others who helped elect Obama but who Democrats fear may stay home this fall. Top lieutenants Biden, Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine and Cabinet members also fanned out on other college campuses to call party foot soldiers to action.
At Penn State University in State College, Pa., Biden noted he was criticized a day earlier in New Hampshire for urging Democrats to “remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives.”
“All I heard when I got here in Happy Valley was the roar of lion. Folks, it’s time for us to roar,” Biden said, pressing his audience to knock on doors, make phone calls and commit to vote.
The White House has started arguing that voters who backed Obama in 2008 must turn out for Democrats this year because the GOP wants to undo what the president has accomplished, that the “hope and change” Obama backers embraced two years ago is at risk if Republicans sweep these elections.
“We are focused on motivation, not laying blame or pointing fingers, because the consequences for sitting this election out could be disastrous,” said Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director.
There was some concern the White House scolding could further alienate liberals and other Democratic critics who don’t think Obama has done enough to pursue issues important to them.
“It’s not helpful,” said John Aravosis, the editor of the progressive AMERICAblog.com. “The base is depressed and they’re depressing it even more, and it’s not clear why.”
Said DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas: “They wouldn’t be in this predicament if they delivered on their campaign promises, rather than waste the last two years putting bipartisanship above action.”
White House aides said House Republicans’ “Pledge to America” last week made it easier for Obama to frame the election as a choice between Democrats’ ideas and Republicans’ proposals.
By signaling plans for deep spending cuts in popular areas such as education, officials said, the GOP pledge presented an opportunity for the White House to remind voters, and particularly the base, what’s at stake in November.
Aides say Obama was trying to underscore those stakes in his interview with Rolling Stone, and the final-stretch strategy - in everything from rhetoric to events - is to underscore that midterm elections have consequences.
“People need to shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up,” Obama said in the interview.
“Bringing about change is hard - that’s what I said during the campaign. It has been hard, and we’ve got some lumps to show for it.”
“But if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren’t serious in the first place. If you’re serious, now’s exactly the time that people have to step up,” Obama added.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 09/29/2010