During a panel discussion on ABC’s This Week about former President Obama wading into the 2018 midterm campaign, Chief White House Correspondent Jon Karl pointed out that the Democrat didn’t have a good track record when it came to campaigning for members of his party in midterm elections. The liberals on the Sunday show immediately lost it, rushing to defend Obama against the accurate observation.
After noting that Obama even having to enter the campaign highlighted the “identity crisis in the Democratic Party right now,” Karl continued: “But he had a – not just a mixed record, but a bad record of campaigning in midterm elections. Democrats, of course, got killed in 2010, got killed in 2014. The Democratic Party, not just in Congress but in the states, was decimated during his presidency.”
The reporter emphasized: “So the question is, how effective will he be out there this time? He may be more effective now that there’s the contrast with Trump, but the track record is not great.”
Democratic strategist and former Obama campaign aide Stephanie Cutter quickly jumped in to dismiss Karl’s point:
He also is not on the ballot. I mean, midterm elections are largely reflections of who is sitting in the White House. He is not on the ballot and he is constructing an argument about which direction you want this country to go in. And he has the benefit of the last 18 months to point to, to say, “This is not America. This is not what we should be about.”
Karl attempted to respond: “But it’s striking how much different he is than – ” However, he was cut off by moderator George Stephanopoulos, who instead turned to left-wing New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg for comment. Like Cutter, Goldberg predictably sought to protect Obama from criticism:
I want to say about the failures in previous midterms. I mean, that was less about kind of his own failures as a campaigner or the fact that his own speeches may be more up to par, as it was a huge failure of party building, a sense that kind of Obama had this so people didn’t need to mobilize, right? It’s not that Obama gave speeches in the past and Democrats lost seats and, therefore, Obama shouldn’t give speeches, right?
Cutter followed: “That’s right.”
Even the slightest bit of accurate reporting about Obama’s poor midterm campaign record must immediately be squashed by liberal pundits.
Here is a transcript of the September 9 discussion on ABC’s This Week:
9:48 AM ET
(...)
JON KARL: But you know, Barack Obama – first of all, it says something about the identity crisis in the Democratic Party right now that there was such a demand for Barack Obama to be out there and he, you know, remains by far the most visible Democrat in the country. But he –
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s no surprise, as the most recent former president.
KARL: But there’s nobody – there’s nobody even close. But he had a – not just a mixed record, but a bad record of campaigning in midterm elections. Democrats, of course, got killed in 2010, got killed in 2014. The Democratic Party, not just in Congress but in the states, was decimated during his presidency. So the question is, how effective will he be out there this time? He may be more effective now that there’s the contrast with Trump, but the track record is not great.
STEPHANIE CUTTER: He also is not on the ballot. I mean, midterm elections are largely reflections of who is sitting in the White House. He is not on the ballot and he is constructing an argument about which direction you want this country to go in. And he has the benefit of the last 18 months to point to, to say, “This is not America. This is not what we should be about.”
KARL: But it’s striking how much different he is than –
STEPHANOPOULOS: Go ahead, Michelle.
MICHELLE GOLDBERG [NEW YORK TIMES]: I want to say about the failures in previous midterms. I mean, that was less about kind of his own failures as a campaigner or the fact that his own speeches may be more up to par, as it was a huge failure of party building, a sense that kind of Obama had this so people didn’t need to mobilize, right? It’s not that Obama gave speeches in the past and Democrats lost seats and, therefore, Obama shouldn’t give speeches, right?
CUTTER: That’s right.
GOLDBERG: I mean, the party itself is mobilized and organized in a way that it just never was during Obama’s administration.
(...)
