If President Barack Obama is in need of a New Year’s resolution, I have the perfect one: Shut down your campaign.
For whatever reason, Obama’s campaign — once known as Obama For America and now Organizing For Action — is still active, raising money, training volunteers and pushing the president’s agenda.
Organizing For Action is separate from stalwart Democratic organizations such as the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Governor’s Association. Those groups are key to Democratic victories this fall. OFA is not.
In fact, OFA’s existence is detrimental to Democrats across the country.
While it’s one thing to keep a president’s political campaign active between the first and second term, it’s an entirely different situation to keep the campaign going beyond the second election. It’s unnecessary and a little unnerving.
As the fundraising emails piled up before New Year’s Eve, I wondered where on Earth the raised money was going. Obama is barred from running for a third term, his approval ratings are down and the campaign doesn’t seem capable of generating widespread support for his agenda.
Obama had a miserable 2013. His poll numbers tanked after the shaky launch of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges, the unfolding scandal surrounding National Security Agency spying and his inability to bridge the great partisan divide in Congress.
If Obama had a grassroots army at his disposal, with staffers providing the marching orders and millions of dollars to spend, why did 2013 end up as such a miserable failure for the president?
The reason is simple: Organizing For America isn’t helping Democrats, the president or anyone else. It takes money away from other Democrats and progressive causes, and it appears sketchy to keep a now defunct presidential campaign active.
It’s understandable that Obama wants supporters to push his agenda in a grassroots effort, but at this point, it would be far better for the president and fellow Democrats to shut down OFA and help other Democratic organizations raise money for the 2014 campaign.
It also opens up the door for a growing divide between Democrats and “Obamacrats.” The president’s strongest supporters may be unwilling to donate to an organization not affiliated with Obama and may even consider other Democrats — including 2016 presidential contenders — a threat. Not only is that a dangerous notion, it could make a 2016 Republican victory easier.
If Democrats — including the “Obamacrats” — want Obama to succeed throughout his second term, they’re going to need strong Democrats at every level of government. Actively fundraising for OFA strips campaign funds and campaign organization from the Democrats who need it most: those actually campaigning for office.
Right now, money donated to Obama’s defunct presidential campaign can’t go to Democrats running for House, Senate or governor. Money that Democrats such as Charlie Crist need to beat a well-funded incumbent like Rick Scott disappear into a vacuum, never to be seen again.
So with that, I say to you, Mr. President, for the good of your party and the nation, it’s time to shut down your campaign. If you don’t, you may not need OFA to campaign on behalf of your agenda because your second term agenda will be moot. Significant Republican victories this fall will ensure that.
Joel Mendelson is a UF graduate student in political campaigning. His column runs on Mondays.
A version of this column ran on page 6 on 1/6/2014 under the headline "Obama needs to shut down his campaign"
