White House Has Not Told Progressive Groups To Stop Targeting Dems

Despite telling Democratic senators that he didn't approve of the ads being run by left-wing groups against members of their own party, Barack Obama has not taken back-channel action to stop a coalition of the groups from airing their spots.

Officials at the two progressive organizations, Democracy for America and Progressive Change Campaign Committee, tell the Huffington Post that they have not heard from the White House about the president's discontent with the ads.

"We have never been contacted by the White House and asked to stop or lighten up or change our campaigns in any way," said Charles Chamberlain, political director at DFA.

Adam Green, co-founder of PCCC, similarly said he had not heard from the administration about the issue.

During a lunch meeting on Tuesday, Obama told Senate Democrats that he "wished left-wing groups would back off" targeting members of their own party on health care reform. It was the second time that the president had expressed this sentiment in private, only to have it reported in public.

Not surprisingly, one of the main target of those ads, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), hailed the president's remarks in a statement to the New York Times. Nelson's critics pledged to keep the ads running in his state.

"Since they are obviously working, we guess it's time to increase our ad buy a second time, shaming Nelson for putting his out-of-state insurance contributors ahead of his own constituents," said Green.

The pressure on Democratic lawmakers from progressive organizations has increased in recent weeks as the party has grown increasingly split on health care reform. The groups leading the charge have been PCCC, DFA, and MoveOn.org, which did not return request for comment for this article.

That Obama would criticize this advertising tactic without taking serious action to actually stop it speaks to the strategy that the White House feels it must pursue. Publicly, the administration is siding with the lawmakers who actually cast votes. But its not working too hard to cut off the pressure being applied to these senators to take more progressive positions.

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Comments

[epcraig]

This is not the Communist nor even the Republican party and nobody can be expelled for disloyalty.
I think that is a good thing.

[Ipanemagirl]

MORE THAN EVER DEMS NEED TO UNITE to be strong and get the important issues past without having to water them down to become useless, on the account of the GOP or AKA party of NO.
I still hope for a single payer system for the USA, but I demand we at least get a public option to compete with the insurance that any employer can also purchase for less and force all employers to offer healthcare to their employees. Dont force employers to keep the insurance if its too expensive! Go ahead and put them out of busineess if they dont want to lower their rates and givve better service, We dont need a middle man!

[mudshark12]

I just hope the Senate passes the best health care plan/bill possible when they get back in session, I'm tired of hearing all the bickering over this issue. Americans need jobs and we need a strong economy that will have some regulations so it don't take a crap on us again.

[SSGMorell]

Left, right, far left, far right, conservitave, non-conservitave, green, not -so- green, black, white, not-so-black, and any others is no good as long as only a few with power in Washington can tell the millions of American People what they are going to do. We need to flush the toilet, Washington D.C., clear of the career polititions that have been bought by oil and big business.
Once an official is elected to Congress or other high post the President should get them into a room on CNN and explain, "You have been elected to this office by the people of the United States in their interest. From now on your pay depends on what you do for the citizens. Every year there will be an election by the people that supported you, to determine your raise. Your salary here is starting at $50,000.00 until your first vote by the citizens you represent. If you do not like these terms then the door is to your right."
Also the stimulus dollars given to the rip off artists that are using the money given to do it again need jailed. The money could have been divided up between the registered voters, which comes to about $400,000.00 each and the citizens of this great country could have fixed the economy themselves. Trust a crook to fix a broken bank account then you get what you paid for. At the VOTERS EXPENSE. hotmail.comhotmail.com

[rbryanh]

I'm afraid I confused change I can vote for with change I can believe in, while supporting a system which ensures the two will never coincide.

We have a single political party: the Corporate Party. It has two right wings: brute fascists who call themselves conservatives and craven opportunists who call themselves liberals. These two parties serve the same purpose Coke and Sprite do: to provide the illusion of choice between two functionally identical products. We may argue that one is more palatable than the other, but both are destructive, tooth-rotting poisons that exist as a way to sell water at a huge mark up.

More importantly, both labels are brought to you by ToxiCo. Like "Coke" and "Sprite," Democrat and Republican, Liberal and Conservative, are all corporate products labelled with nonsense syllables. They exist to provide the illusion of choice while simultaneously ensuring that there is none. Consequently, American elections fall under the working definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

There is no health care debate worthy of the name, nor is any required. To determine what our corporate masters have decided is best for us, all we need is a simple table, showing who's been bought by whom, and for how much. Since the only vote we're allowed is "Coke" or "Sprite" and the two are identical, no votes need be tallied.

"...all the rest is advertising."

[JIzin]

That is true to a point. The problem you are speaking of is really about campaign finance reform. That would take out the worst and most blatant way that corporations work against the common good of Americans. That way people who run on a more progressive campaign are actually able to carry through with their convictions.

[star3]

Absolutely, JIzin. Politicans are buying their way into office by financing large, expensive campaigns to impress, and it's, usually, ego based, and has nothing to do with wanting to do what is right for America or the people; these politicians have backers who have their own motives for donating to a candidate's campaign. it is time the voice of the sincere, not so wealthy politician was heard louder, and if their promises seem valid, then the people would recognize that, and maybe we'd get someone who, actually, could make a positive change for whatever needed changing. Not everything needs changing, America has done just fine for over 200 years, operating on the policies we had established.

[Anachronist]

Very nice line of thought. Very convincing and coherent. I like that.

But, be careful that you do not imprison yourself in circles of convincing and coherent thoughts.

For example: Buy apple juice. Or vote...uhm....ahh...dammit, you're right ;)

[OutsourcedAgain]

Whatever it takes to get these party backstabbers to buck up and vote with the people instead of their corporate overlords. I just hope the Democratic party has people ready to run against these blue dogs in the primaries.

[cuniverse]

The Repubs are now working from their playbook “ Strategies on How to destabilizing a government ” that they honed abroad home to America
Will it work on the Democrats ?
It will, be the people in the streets who have to fight for their rights, because most of their politicians are owned by Corporate America.
If Corporate America can't buy them then Corporate America will spend millions to REMOVE them from office and the politicians are keenly aware of this fact.
Now the masses are beginning to pay attention and demanding that their politicians work in their collective interests , and this is now proving very difficult for the politicians for they cannot serve two masters
The Corporations and the politicians usually controlled the people with infinite ease, is this about to change?
Will the people control their politicians ?
The Corporations always won because the control the politicians on both sides of the isle
And the sheeple had the privilege to vote
Stay tuned as America Sheeple Awakens
Will the Sheeple eventually become People?

[cuniverse]

The Repubs are now working from their playbook “ Strategies on How to destabilizing a government ” that they honed abroad home to America
Will it work on the Democrats ?
It will, be the people in the streets who have to fight for their rights, because most of their politicians are owned by Corporate America.
If Corporate America can't buy them then Corporate America will spend millions to REMOVE them from office and the politicians are keenly aware of this fact.
Now the masses are beginning to pay attention and demanding that their politicians work in their collective interests , and this is now proving very difficult for the politicians for they cannot serve two masters
The Corporations and the politicians usually controlled the people with infinite ease, is this about to change?
Will the people control their politicians ?
The Corporations always won because the control the politicians on both sides of the isle
And the sheeple had the privilege to vote
Stay tuned as America Sheeple Awakens

[cuniverse]

The Repubs have brought their destabilizing governments strategy that the have honed abroad home to America
Will it work on the Democrats ?
It will, be the people in the streets who have to fight for their rights, because most of their politicians are owned by corporate America.
If Corporate America can't buy them then Corporate America will spend millions to REMOVE them from office and the politicians are keenly aware of this fact.
Now the masses are beginning to pay attention and demanding that their politicians work for them, and this is now proving very difficult for the politicians for they cannot serve two masters
The Corporations and the politicians usually controlled the people with infinite ease, is this about to change?
Will the people control the politicians ?
Stay tuned as America Awakens

[NoSillyName]

Progressives are obviously free to do what they want, but IMO anyone who is not a republican should join forces against the real enemy. Spoken as an Independent.

[masher]

And that would be? Corporations?

[NoSillyName]

No, I was referring to the voting public. The growing Mob Mentality of the Republicans. The Birthers. The fringe loonies who are trying to subvert the only process that we have as citizens to participate in democracy, aside from voting. Town Hall meetings being shut down or disrupted by Birth Certificate nuts, death threats against politicians. Protest is one thing; the organized mobs of crazed haters is quite another.

These are the enemies of Democracy and IMO, the other side of the political spectrum would be wise not to divide itself in these dangerous times.

Corporations are another story all together.

[NoSillyName]

No, that is not what I meant.

[nationalhealth]

I am definitely on the left and I will add pressure to any politician who does not do her/his job. I have never owned a brook brother's suit, but I have smelled tear gas. So I am not shy in my attempts to have the right thing done.

Call your representatives or talk radio.

Organize and attend rallies

Get elected locally

Email

Blog

Carry on civilized conversations with undecided people.

It is not Obama's issue, it is our issue. If he fails, we have failed.

[pricespector]

Obama told Senate Democrats that he "wished left-wing groups would back off" targeting members of their own party on health care reform. It was the second time that the president had expressed this sentiment in private, only to have it reported in public.

Private, public, does it make a difference? It seems he feels that way.

[bfreese]

I am surprised that President Obama hasn't ascertained by now that his worst enemies in the Senate are the members of his own party.

[pjkool]

What’s this about left wing groups attacking members of their own party? I am a liberal on the attack but I don’t really consider myself to be a Democrat. If President Obama had shown stronger leadership on health care, Democrats would all be marching in line and health care reform would have been passed last week. Instead, President Obama has no health care bill and America is being held hostage by Republican thugs disrupting town hall meetings and by a few old men in his own party whom have been lawmakers for far to long and are beholden to the health care industry that funds their re-election campaigns. The lack of Presidential leadership coupled with the talking corpse leadership style of Reid and Pelosi have put us where we are in the health care debate. President Obama and the Democratic leadership need to forget about what might happen in 2010 and 2012 because it’s better to loose an election because you took a strong position and stood for something rather than loose because you are viewed as weak and unprincipled. The president could get the ball rolling by making a public statement against the Republican sponsored domestic terror taking place at town hall meetings across the country and by taking names and stepping on some throats in his own party in the interest of getting something done to make life better for working American families.

[Mix1453]

This former yellow dog is glad everyday she voted for Nader.


Moxie

[ObamanextPresident]

"During a lunch meeting on Tuesday, Obama told Senate Democrats that he "wished left-wing groups would back off" targeting members of their own party on health care reform"

Sam...I know this is out there but by whom? Is it on video? Who is reporting that Obama expressed this? Ben Nelson? Can he be trusted since this comment by the Pres would certainly help him?