Once-enthusiastic Obama donors, disappointed by Obama’s lack of leadership, have stopped writing checks. Instead, they are casting their eyes beyond the midterm elections and focusing on a potential 2016 presidential bid by Hillary Clinton.
According to The Hill, the beleaguered supporters of the President are frustrated by the White House’s continued requests for donations, for which they get nothing in return. On Monday night, Obama orchestrated his 22nd fundraiser of 2014 and his 60th since he won the election in 2012. One Democratic strategist observed, “There’s definitely some donor fatigue in a lukewarm environment… They are tired of giving and giving and they know there’s not much more the president can do.”
The Hill reported that even if Democrats were able to hold on to the Senate, the likelihood of much change happening inside the Beltway before 2016 would be scant. “There’s a sense of resignation that Republicans are just going to run out the clock on the president no matter what,” one Obama donor confessed. “I think a lot of people think, ‘What’s really the point?’ “
Another donor argued that Obama lacks the skills that President Clinton had when it comes to nurturing his donors. He explained that Clinton understands the give-and-take nature of the relationship. Contrarily, Obama “has been very restrictive on that kind of stuff,” the donor said. “Team Obama just [doesn’t] get it… In terms of energizing the donor base, they have not done that well.”
Nevertheless, on Thursday Obama plans to be in Chicago attending fundraisers No.23 and No.24 for 2014. Obama, to whom The Hill referred as “the campaigner in chief,” needs your help, insists former senior advisor to the president David Axelrod. Axelrod believes that donors shouldn’t forsake the midterm election and only spotlight the 2016 presidential race. “With the Senate seriously at risk and the Koch Brothers spending prodigiously, shouldn’t [Democratic] fundraisers be focused on ’14 and not ’16 races?” Axelrod queries.
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