Obama: a cash cow who won't be milked
Dec. 7th, 2008 06:00 pmDemocrats carrying significant campaign debt after winning a string of House and Senate races are grumbling about President-elect Barack Obama's financial reserves, saying the party's leader is sitting on a pile of cash while Democratic leaders are broke.
Obama's organization retains some $30 million after his successful presidential bid, but it's unclear how the Democratic president-in-waiting might use the money. Members of his party are doing their best to appeal for the funds without appearing greedy, ungrateful or hostile to their new leader.
"If I was a top adviser to the president elect, I wouldn't necessarily be advocating saving those dollars," said Raymond Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. "It was critically important that we not repeat what happened in '93, '94," when President Bill Clinton held the purse strings and Democrats lost 54 U.S. House seats and eight senators during midterm elections.
"We need the resources to build the national grass roots network for the Obama agenda. We need to make sure the president is successful and that the administration fulfills his promises," Buckley said.
Or Mr. O could hold on to those dollars, screwing over members of his own party (again) and start his bid for 2012 right now. Wanker.