Mid-Term Battleground States a 'No-Fly Zone' for Obama

Politico brands it “Obama’s campaign no-fly zone.” 

What it is, is proof of how disastrously low Barack Obama’s ratings are in a number of states crucial for Democrats if they want to hold off the GOP from taking control of the Senate in 2014.

In an election that Republicans want to make all about President Barack Obama, the White House is determined to make him all but disappear in the battleground states that matter.

In 2008, Obama is credited for having helped to elect several Democrats to the Senate. Now, just six years later, as Politico also points out, he’s been reduced to little more than “an attack line.” Between the immigration crisis, a number of foreign policy debacles and a still stagnate economy, Politico dubs him “the last person that many candidates want to be forced to defend on the campaign trail”.

The White House is putting the finishing touches on a post-Labor Day schedule that will send the president to states where he’s still popular, such as: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California, Obama officials and Democratic operatives said this week.

But in the red states that will determine control of the Senate, Obama will remain scarce. That means no personal campaign visits to states like Arkansas, Alaska, Louisiana and North Carolina. He may do some targeted outreach through robocalls, digital ads and conference calls, but the campaign plan is clear: Stay away from candidates he’s already hurting.

He may still be a big draw on the fundraising circuit, but it’s also clear he’s going to have plenty of time for golf as we get closer to November, as “for Democratic incumbents in top-tier Senate races, the Obama association is like a dead weight. His recent trips to states with competitive contests have been fraught with clumsy choreography between the candidates and the White House”.

As surprising as that may seem, what’s perhaps even more surprising is how Politico appears to put an exclamation mark on a politically floundering Obama in this scathing piece.

When Obama arrived in North Carolina on Tuesday to speak at the American Legion’s annual meeting, Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan — along with Republican Sen. Richard Burr — greeted him on the tarmac and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

But by the time Air Force One touched down in Charlotte, she had already pulled up the welcome mat, attacking his management of the Department of Veterans Affairs as a means of differentiate herself from the president. In prepared remarks for her own speech to the convention released ahead of the president’s visit — though she didn’t speak until after him — she added that the administration “has a long road ahead to restore the faith and trust of our veterans.”