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July 07, 2014 03:24 PM UTC

Udall And Obama: Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t

  • 26 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
President Barack Obama, with close ally Satan (right).
President Barack Obama, with close ally Satan (right).

As 9NEWS' Brandon Rittiman reports, the non-troversy over President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to Colorado this week goes on–at least in the minds of Republicans, desperate to extract larger meaning from, well, any silly little thing they can:

When Air Force One touches down in Denver on Tuesday night, Sen. Mark Udall won't be on board nor will he be on the tarmac to greet the president.

Likewise, the Udall campaign told 9NEWS the senator will not attend an official speech the president plans to give Wednesday, which will be open to the Denver news media.

Instead, Udall will be on a flight from Washington DC that's scheduled to land in time for the senator to attend a closed-door fundraiser for his re-election campaign, headlined by the president.

"The public is not only barred from attending the president's speech in Denver, but now Sen. Udall has announced he will not appear with the president either," said Alex Siciliano, spokesman for congressman Cory Gardner, Udall's Republican challenger. "Sen. Udall's message to the president is clear: help me rake in campaign cash behind closed doors, keep the media from capturing photos of us together and avoid real Coloradans at all costs."

Yes, everyone HATES Obama. We know.
Yes, everyone HATES Obama. We had not heard that recently.

​​To some extent, Sen. Mark Udall earned the extra bit of scrutiny over relations with President Obama when he bungled the response to questions about whether Obama would be a good choice to campaign with in January. That said, the speculation about whether Udall would fundraise with Obama was always silly in our view, because even with approval ratings for President Obama a little underwater, he's still quite valuable to Democrats for motivating the party's base. Obama's "toxicity" is, more than anyone in either the GOP or the media wants to admit today, a myth of hyped partisan predisposition–and outside a conservative core that will never vote for Democrats anyway, its existence should not be presumed. The last time it was, in 2012, the mythmakers were proven wrong.

And in the case of Obama's visit to Colorado this week, there's actually a simple and entirely reasonable explanation for why Udall won't be on hand until later in the day on Wednesday:

Udall has votes to take on Tuesday in the Senate and will catch a morning flight to Denver on Wednesday. [Pols emphasis]

"We're happy to have [President Obama,]" Udall campaign spokesman Chris Harris told 9NEWS. "I think too much has been placed on the minutiae here."

Think about this, folks: if Udall had flown home early to appear with President Obama in Cheesman Park Wednesday, Cory Gardner's surrogates would have a field day with Udall "skipping votes to campaign." But with Sen. Udall staying in Washington to cast his votes Tuesday, which most constituents would agree is the better decision, he's "avoiding President Obama!" If you're starting to think that no matter what Udall does, Republicans will find a way to claim it portends disaster, you may be closest to the truth.

We realize that won't even slow our local talk radio hosts down, but somebody needed to say it.

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26 thoughts on “Udall And Obama: Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t”

  1. It's Harry Reid's fault? To be honest, I believe that. Democrats are so disorganized and incompetent that they screwed one of their most vulnerable Senators.

    Also, Obama is extremely unpopular, and Democrats are going to lose the Senate this year with or without Udall. Your weak spin can't change that.

    1. You know who is more unpopular than Obama? Congress

       

      And we were going to lose it in 2010 and 2012 guess that didn't happen. As long as there are Tea Party extremists the GOP is in touble. 

      Senate GOP are far more disorganzied and incompetent, and Cory Gardner is a tool, he going to have a though time with all his flip flopping.

      1. Yes, indeed, I quite agree, in some repects.  We should not be discouraged by the tea party folks.  We go back and then forward like the odd children we are.  I just wish this country would grow up sooner rather than later.  We will, eventually, and I've been given to understand that patience is a virtue.  

    2. Would you imagine what it would be like if the Senate organized its calendar around everyone's individual campaign events ?

      For the love of Jesus Moderatus, just THINK every now and then.

      1. Come on, do you really think the President and the Senator Obama is coming to raise money for can't align their schedules? You're so naive it's ridiculous.

          1. That's the problem. I am thinking, and I think Udall is afraid to be seen in public with Obama. It looks like most of the local media thinks the same thing.

            4. Moddy – really "thinking"and "local media"in the same sentence. That's an indication you're not engaging in the activity and may be light in the capacity for it.How many years and times have you and your ilk told us all the media is a "liberal" institution that toes their line without thinking about it?

    3. Udall is not as vulnerable as you think. Gardner is too extreme and radical to win statewide in Colorado. now a blue state. The GOP are even more extremely unpopular than Obama is. The democrats will keep the senate well into 2016 when Hillary Clinton runs and becomes our next president.

  2. Hey, what is Hickenlooper and Romanoff's excuse? I just heard they won't be there either. Do they all have important votes in the Senate on Tuesday?

    Democrats are running scared…

    1. Good article in the WA Post on how lack of immigration reform will hurt the GOP esp.  in Colorado. Now with Hobby Lobby you have a women problem as well as a minority problem.

        1. They both have notes from their doctors, and on the reverse side there's a copy of Obama's birth certificate with the original signature of Hawaii's secretary of state.  I hope that suffices.

    3. 1) Hick is in the Springs and Romanoff doesn't need to hitch his wagon to Obama. 

      2) This is an Obamacentric event. What use is it showing up to an event where all the cameras will be trained on the President? Waste of campaing time.

      3) If Udall would have come home early for a campaign thing, you'd be knocking him for missing a vote and not doing the job he was elected to do. 

      In short, keep trying to find sinister intent in every action. It only makes you look more an more like a wack job. 

      1. Mum's the word. wink  Where the hell is his backup?  There's nothing more amusing than observing the two of them spoon electronically…

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