The bungled rollout of President Obama’s signature health care law might have kept the president away from Gettysburg, but it has not kept him off the links or away from the fundraising circuit.
Since the launch of the HealthCare.gov on October 1, Obama has gone golfing five times and attended ten fundraisers — with five more scheduled for the beginning of this week — while Obamacare’s favorability has hit all time lows.
And while President Obama’s schedule has been open for golf and fundraisers, he was unable to attend the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address Tuesday due to — as White House advisor Dan Pfeiffer put it — “this whole website thing that someone suggested might destroy the Dem Party.”
The problems affecting HealthCare.gov, however, did not stop Obama from golfing on Oct. 20, Oct. 27, Nov. 2, Nov. 9 or Nov. 17.
Further by the end of November, Obama will have attended some 15 fundraisers since the botched launch of HealthCare.gov on Oct. 1 — including the DNC’s Women’s Leadership Forum in D.C. on Oct. 24, two fundraisers in New York to benefit the DCCC and DNC on Oct. 25, a DCCC fundraiser in Boston on Oct. 30, two fundraisers for the DSCC in Dallas on Nov. 6, A DNC fundraiser and two DSCC fundraisers in Miami on Nov. 8 and a DCSS fundraiser in Philadelphia on Nov. 14.
Obama will also travel to Washington state and California early this week, where he will attend another five fundraisers.
Last week the Guardian highlighted — as The Daily Caller did in May — that Obama’s second term fundraising activities has vastly out paced those of his two-term predecessors, more than twice the rate of both former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
“Travelling to the 30 fundraisers [since April], mostly held in private mansions and luxury hotels across 10 cities, has also required him to clock up more than 20,000 miles on Air Force One at an estimated cost to the US taxpayer of more than $6m,” the Guardian reported on Nov. 12 — noting that Bush attended 11, Clinton 16, and Reagan 10 in that same time period during their respective second terms.
Other news outlets have reported President Obama did pledge to raise money for the Democratic campaign committees, and is following through — despite the website and insurance cancellation notice threatening Obama’s trustworthiness and signature legislation.