Politics

Obama’s birthday celebration includes campaign pep talk

Neil Munro White House Correspondent
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President Barack Obama used his birthday celebrations to give his campaign volunteers an online pep talk, in which he acknowledged the difficulties facing his 2012 re-election bid.

Supporters must work cooperatively to reach “all the people that may have gotten turned off to politics, may be disillusioned, maybe are going through a tough time because of this difficult economy,” the president offered to supporters gathered at house parties for his 50th birthday celebration Wednesday night.

Outreach, he said, “is always easier to do as a team … Obviously I want you to talk to your friends and your family, and the Republican uncle that you got who isn’t persuaded yet … [to] talk issues at the workplace, around the water cooler, having conversations with friends of yours about why it’s so important for them to be engaged.”

A July Pew poll found 54 percent of swing-voting independents disapprove of the president’s record. A Quinnipiac poll this week reported 61 percent of independents disapproved of the president’s record in Florida and other key swing states. (Obama’s support among Florida independents plummets after debt)

Many of Obama’s 2008 campaign supporters have also lost interest. “I have to tell you, the magic is gone,” TV-host Bill Maher commented Wednesday on MSNBC. After the debt ceiling deal, “I mean, he has no credibility with me.”

Obama acknowledged the loss of political momentum, saying “I know that over the last two and a half years there have been times where people have been frustrated. This past week was a frustrating week.”

During the online pep talk, the president took questions from supporters in the three swing states — Ohio, North Carolina and Michigan — and touted his campaign’s outreach efforts. “We’ve already had contact with 42,000 individuals face to face across the nation because of the teams that are activated in the states that are represented on this phone call,” the president said.

In an attempt to quell the bad economic news, Obama urged those supporting him to “talk about values.”

When canvassing voters, “if somebody asks about taxes, nobody is really interested in hearing what [about a] precise marginal tax rate … What they want to know is that our campaign stands for a fair, just approach to the tax code that says everybody has to chip in,” he said. “That’s a values issue,” he said.

The following day, the bad economic news continued as the stock market fell 370 points by midday.

Obama also reminded supporters about the excitement they felt during his 2008 campaign and attempted to raise the stakes. “This election is going to be a seminal election, in some ways maybe more important than the last one,” he said.

“We’re in for a long battle,” Obama warned his supporters. “We’ve got 16 months in which we’re just going to have to be knocking on doors, making phone calls, turning out voters. But it starts now … and it starts with you.”

Neil Munro