Beginning today, the White House will harness every part of the Democratic Party's machinery to defend President Obama's budget and portray Republicans as reflexively political, according to party strategists.
A participant in the planning meetings described the push as a successor to Democrats' message that Rush Limbaugh is the Republican Party leader. "We have exhausted the use of Rush as an attention-getter," the official said.
David Plouffe, manager of Obama's presidential race, helped design the strategy, which includes the most extensive activation since November of the campaign's grassroots network. The database—which includes information for at least 10 million donors, supporters and volunteers—will now be used as a unique tool for governing, with former canvassers now being enlisted to mobilize support for the president's legislative agenda.
Others involved in the planning included White House senior adviser David Axelrod; the DNC chairman, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine; and DNC Executive Director Jennifer O'Malley Dillon.
The plan follows the private complaints of some Democrats that Obama let the GOP get the better of him during the debate over pork in the budget bill he just signed, and growing concerns among some Democrats that charges of big spending could stick to the president.
Starting this week, President Obama will be "engaging directly with Congress more, and speaking more forcefully on behalf of his budget," a top adviser said.
On Sunday morning, three top White House officials will appear on network interview shows to describe brighter days ahead for the nation's economy, and make the case that the budget is an important part of the president's overall recovery plan.
And officials throughout the party plan to hammer the idea that Republicans are just saying "no" to the president's budget plans without offering their own alternative.
House Republicans, who released an alternative to the stimulus bill, say they'll issue their own budget proposal in the next few weeks. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in January in his opening remarks to this legislative session: "During the 111th Congress, Republicans will strive not to be the party of 'opposition,' but the party of better solutions."
The Obama grassroots network—now known as Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee—has launched an e-mail pledge drive on MyBarackObama.com in which supporters sign their e-mail address to the statement: "I support President Obama's bold approach for renewing America's economy."
The pledge drive was announced with a video called "Ready for the Fight." Plouffe e-mailed supporters over the weekend with a challenge labeled "The next few weeks": "In the next few weeks we'll be asking you to do some of the same things we asked of you during the campaign—talking directly to people in your communities about the President's ideas for long-term prosperity."
This is not an easy message war for Democrats. Obama's budget calls for the largest deficit in U.S. history and a doubling of the national debt to $23 trillion in 2019. That is a big, juicy target for the GOP, which plans to hit this theme relentlessly all spring.
Republicans were successful in making earmarks, which accounted for only a sliver of total spending, the centerpiece of debate over the omnibus spending bill. The GOP sees sky-high deficits as similarly easy to explain to the public.
So the Democratic allies—the administration, congressional leaders, outside groups and the DNC—are uniting for the new push.
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PS This was part of the Training on Saturday for precinct workers
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/v/xImpUMQuPUA&hl=en
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/v/b4NKllI3AfM&hl=en
Sign The Pledge
To Enter Data
Ron Mills
