RNC: Getting Back To Business

Tonight, Obama Gets Back To The Job He Really Loves: Fundraiser-In-Chief

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the Republican National Committee:

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080519/RNCLOGO)

CNN's Wolf Blitzer: "Now that they've got this deal, the president will sign it into law later today. This does enable the president to go as planned to Chicago tomorrow to celebrate his 50th birthday and do some political fundraising." (CNN's "News Room," 8/2/11)

NOW THAT THE DEBT DEAL IS DONE, OBAMA HEADS BACK TO ADORING FANS AND LOADED DONORS

Obama Wanted To Wrap Up The Debt Deal "To Get Back To Some Other Critical Business: Fundraising For His 2012 Campaign." "There are many reasons President Obama wanted to wrap up a debt deal this weekend: the looming Aug. 2 default deadline and the endless media coverage of Washington's political meltdown, to name a couple. But he also wanted to get back to some other critical business: fundraising for his 2012 campaign." (David Nakamura, "Obama Heading Back On Campaign Trail After Debt Deal," The Washington Post, 8/1/11)

• Obama Had To Cancel Fundraisers On Each Coast To Be In DC The Past Few Weeks. "Obama canceled several planned fundraisers on the West coast and postponed an event in New York to stay in Washington over the past two weeks for the debt negotiations." (David Nakamura, "Obama Heading Back On Campaign Trail After Debt Deal," The Washington Post, 8/1/11)

Obama Would Have Missed Out On Jennifer Hudson And Herbie Hancock Serenading Him If The Debt Limit Fight Kept "Taking Up All The Oxygen In The Room." "The months long debate — Obama said it's been 'taking up all the oxygen in the room' — threatened to force him to skip his own party, a pair of birthday fundraisers planned in his Chicago hometown on Wednesday, including an event featuring musicians and Chicago natives Herbie Hancock and Jennifer Hudson." ("Obama, Near 50, Says Michelle Still Thinks He's 'Cute,'" MSNBC, 8/1/11)

• And Obama Wouldn't Have Been Able To Personally Thank The Donors That Coughed Up Over $35,000 To See Him. "The events will feature musical performers and cost up to $35,800 per person, according to the Chicago Sun-Times." (David Nakamura, "Obama Heading Back On Campaign Trail After Debt Deal," The Washington Post, 8/1/11)

But The "Deal=Obama Windy City Bday Bash On." ("Deal=Obama Windy City Bday Bash On," Time's "The Page," 8/1/11)

• And So Are "Hundreds" Of Other Parties. "Besides the birthday fundraisers, Obama's re-election campaign is planning hundreds of house parties around the country."  ("Obama, Near 50, Says Michelle Still Thinks He's 'Cute,'" MSNBC, 8/1/11)

THROUGHOUT DEBT DEBATE, IT SEEMED OBAMA WAS JUST COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS UNTIL HE COULD GET BACK ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

The New York Times' Maureen Dowd: "You have to wonder if President Obama at some level doesn't want to lead. Maybe he just wants to be loved." (Maureen Dowd, "Tempest in a Tea Party," The New York Times, 7/30/11)

• Dowd: "[Democratic lawmakers] fret that Obama is an inept negotiator." (Maureen Dowd, "Tempest in a Tea Party," The New York Times, 7/30/11)
• Dowd: "The laconic president emerges from the sidelines periodically to warn about economic default, but we're already in political default." (Maureen Dowd, "Tempest In A Tea Party," The New York Times, 7/30/11)
• Dowd: "As one Democratic senator complained: 'The president veers between talking like a peevish professor and a scolding parent.' (Not to mention a jilted lover.) Another moaned: 'We are watching him turn into Jimmy Carter right before our eyes.'" (Maureen Dowd, "Tempest In A Tea Party," The New York Times, 7/30/11)

Bloomberg: "Obama Came Months Late To The Negotiations" And "Allowed 2012 Election Concerns To Shape His Timing." "Obama came months late to the negotiations, allowed 2012 election concerns to shape his timing and willingness to advocate Social Security and Medicare reductions, and undermined his position by shifting his priorities, they said." (Margaret Talev and Mike Dorning, "Obama's Deficit Bargain Lost Out To 2012 Politics With Shifting Priorities," Bloomberg, 8/1/11)

"He Tried To Position Himself As The Adult Riding Herd On A Brood Of Squabbling Children; He Ended Up Portraying Himself As A Suitor Left At The Altar, Not Just Once, But Repeatedly." (William Galston, "The White House's Three Biggest Blunders in the Debt Ceiling Fight," The New Republic, 8/2/11)

The Washington Post: "Indeed, for much of the battle over the debt ceiling, Obama seemed to be, alternately, a bystander and a broker. And in the early assessments of the results, it appears that Republicans got the better of the bargain." (Karen Tumulty & Perry Bacon Jr., "What the debt-ceiling battle means for 2012" The Washington Post, 8/2/11)

OBAMA MIGHT BE RELIEVED TO BE AROUND "ENTHUSIASTIC OBAMA DIEHARDS" INSTEAD OF THE DISAPPOINTED LIBERALS AND DEMOCRAT CONGRESSMEN HE'S BEEN DEALING WITH THIS WEEK

"The Chicago Events Are Sure To Be Filled With Enthusiastic Obama Diehards. Whether The President's Liberal Base Will Feel Like Partying Is Another Matter." (David Nakamura, "Obama Heading Back On Campaign Trail After Debt Deal," The Washington Post, 8/1/11)

"If Obama Thought He Had Problems With Liberals Before This, He'll Have Even More Now." "If Obama thought he had problems with liberals before this, he'll have even more now, no matter how hard the White House spins it as a 'victory for bipartisan compromise, for the economy and for the American people,' as the administration's official talking points claimed." (Glenn Thrush and Carrie Budoff Brown, "Debt Deal Complicates Liberals' Support," Politico, 8/1/11)

The New York Times' Paul Krugman: "The President Surrenders." (Paul Krugman, Op-Ed, "The President Surrenders," The New York Times, 7/31/11)

Krugman: "It Is, Of Course, A Political Catastrophe For Democrats." "It is, of course, a political catastrophe for Democrats, who just a few weeks ago seemed to have Republicans on the run over their plan to dismantle Medicare; now Mr. Obama has thrown all that away." (Paul Krugman, Op-Ed, "The President Surrenders," The New York Times, 7/31/11)

"Fuming Bay State Liberals Accused President Obama Of Once Again Caving To Republican Pressure In The High-Stakes Debt Crisis Negotiations, And Vowed To Make Him Pay Come 2012." (Chris Cassidy, "Bay State Dems Blast Obama For Giving In To GOP," Boston Herald, 8/2/11)

• Mike Combs Of The Progressive Democrats Of Massachusetts Calls Obama "Profoundly Disappointing" And Says "I Probably Will Not Campaign For Him In The Next Election."  "'It's profoundly disappointing,' said Mike Combs of the Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts, who campaigned for Obama in the 2008 election. 'I was looking for more of a fighter and a champion of working families. ... I probably will not campaign for him in the next election.' Combs warned that some of Obama's biggest supporters are running out of patience. 'What's important in a campaign are the people that get out and knock on doors and call their neighbors,' Combs said. 'Those progressives and the activists may well be motivated to put their effort somewhere else or stay home. That could really hurt.'" (Chris Cassidy, "Bay State Dems Blast Obama For Giving In To GOP," Boston Herald, 8/2/11)

A Product Of The RNC Research Department
August 3, 2011
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SOURCE Republican National Committee