Attacks on Obama fall short

The sharp tone House GOP leaders have recently taken toward President Barack Obama may appeal to the conservative base, but don’t expect the whole conference to follow suit. With nearly three dozen Republicans sitting in congressional districts carried by the president in 2008, there’s still quite a bit of reticence when it comes to Obama-bashing. 

“We recognize that the president has high poll numbers at the moment,” said freshman Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.), who won an open seat in November despite Obama’s 51 percent victory in his district. “It would be ridiculous to suggest otherwise.”  

Lance’s North Jersey-based seat is one of 31 Republican-held districts that Obama won, according to unofficial election results compiled by the website Swing State Project, and interviews with GOP House members who hold those seats suggest they are reluctant to embrace any new offensive that targets the president himself. 

“I’m not critical of the president,” said Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.). “I’m critical of the process and the legislation that is getting shoved down our throats constantly.” 

So, at the moment, vulnerable members like Reichert are careful to keep their criticism directed toward the policy side — without invoking Obama by name. 

“It’s appropriate to keep criticisms focused by way of policy suggestions,” said Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), who represents an Obama-friendly suburban Philadelphia district. 

“I don’t think this is a direct criticism of Obama, but of his policies,” added Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who said his constituents “understand that you can’t spend more money than you take in every month.” 

GOP leadership hasn’t been so shy about dinging the president. 

In a closed-door meeting last Wednesday, House GOP leaders unveiled the new anti-Obama tack and told the rank and file they should feel free to criticize the president, especially on the economy. They argued that Obama’s massive budget proposal provided leeway to attack the new president as a tax-and-spender.

Seizing on a recent comment Obama made comparing the stock market to a tracking poll, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor said in an interview following the meeting, “It’s not a tracking poll. It’s real.” 

“The stock market reflects real money; it reflects real loss,” Cantor said. “I shudder to think of the massive losses Americans are experiencing in their portfolios right now.”

Democrats, for their part, believe a more aggressive approach toward Obama will backfire because it will afford them the opportunity to tie members from moderate-minded districts to the GOP’s conservative leadership. 

“If you look deep in the numbers, people believe [Obama is] trying to get something done,” said John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster who works on House races. “Republicans proceed at their own risk.” 

“To go after [Obama] in a personal sense is a bad idea in principle; it’s a bad idea in politics,” said Anzalone. 

Some GOP strategists concede that an offensive against the president presents considerable risk for Republicans in Obama-leaning districts. But they also say that taking on Obama makes sense for a party that, at the moment, has little else to work with. 

“We’re kind of at a point where we don’t have a choice,” said John Hishta, a veteran GOP strategist who ran the National Republican Congressional Committee’s television advertising campaign in the last election cycle. “We need to engage the Democrats in an actual debate about what fixes an ailing economy. There’s no way of doing that without getting personal.” 

“I think moderates ought to be out there talking about the size of these spending bills,” Hishta added. 

In interviews, GOP members from Obama districts suggested that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi presented a more promising target for their criticism. A Newsweek poll last week showed Pelosi with a mere 35 percent favorability rating, compared with Obama’s 72 percent. 

“I think there is a rift between the popularity of the president and the unpopularity of Speaker Pelosi,” said Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who represents a suburban Chicago district that delivered 61 percent to Obama. 

When asked if Republicans should focus their fire on Obama or Pelosi, Rep. Charles W. Dent (R-Pa.), whose constituents gave Obama 56 percent of the vote, hinted that the answer was self-evident. 

“Who do you think?” he said.