Kendrick Meek has had somewhat of a surge in taking the lead over his Democratic Senate opponent, Jeff Greene, in the past week, and after having the last two Democratic Presidents stump for him in the past three days, it would be a shocking rebuke if he was now rejected by primary voters next week.
Following Bill Clinton earlier this week (who by the way turns 64 today), Barack Obama hit Miami late Wednesday afternoon, going to a deli with Meek for a sandwich before addressing an estimated 650 Democratic donor at the Fontainebleu hotel in Miami Beach, where the Miami Herald's Beth Reinhard reports the Prez gave props to both Meek and the presumptive Democratic nominee for Governor, Alex Sink.
"At a difficult time like this you need someone in Tallahassee like Alex,'' Obama said. "She combines the sensibility of a success businesswoman with the tenacity of a consumer watchdog. …She's going to be the economic ambassador of this state…Alex knows what it takes to change business as usual in Tallahassee. She's not afraid to take on the status quo…"
Too bad Sink wasn't there to hear them. Reinhard reports that the Chief Financial Officer had "stepped off the stage" by the time that Bill Nelson introduced POTUS at the hotel last night. The Herald political reporter then writes that
Her distance from Obama was not surprising, considering that Gov. Charlie Crist's embrace of the president last year helped his rival Marco Rubio torpedo his standing with GOP voters. Crist campaigned together with Obama for approval of the president's $787 billion stimulus plan.
There is a slight difference here, of course. Crist at the time was a Republican, and was apparently one of only a handful of the GOP who didn't get the memo that they were to not support the stimulus plan in any way, shape or fashion. Crist's literal embrace was a huge factor in him getting booted out of the party.
There is no danger to that happening to the soon to be official Democratic candidate for Governor. And coming after her blasting Obama for his remarks last Friday that he supported the mosque/cultural center to be built in Lower Manhattan, and the President's low approval ratings in the Sunshine State currently, and that Sink is determined (perhaps to her detriment) to run a non-ideological, centrist oriented campaign, it's entirely not surprising.
It's something that happens with leaders whose popularity wanes, or do you not remember the stories about George W. Bush not campaigning for John McCain two years ago? How about a better comparison – the man who (especially South Florida) Democrats can't get enough of these days, Bill Clinton?
Forgive me for going down memory lane, but it was a decade ago when Al Gore was campaigning to be President, and he noticeably avoided campaigning with Clinton in certain precincts, because of the so called “taint” associated with Mr. Clinton post-Monica Lewinsky scandal. In fact, Clinton was kept out of parts of Florida because of those concerns.
A few years after George W. Bush’s Presidency, however, suddenly made Clinton a much more attractive figure once again. And the fact was, in Democratic circles he was never more popular than after the witch hunt that nearly brought down his presidency.
However, there's no doubt that things have gone slightly amiss for the current President in the summer of his second year in office, problems that are separate from the economic realities that would be hurting any President right now.
This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2010.