Obama's transitory power already fading

Conn Carroll:

"The organization doesn't exist without belief in the candidate," White House senior adviser David Plouffe told Politico after November's election. "They turned out for Barack Obama. It was all because of him."

"All because of him." That comment may sting the hundreds of Democratic candidates who spent countless hours working on their own campaigns, but it is also probably true. Obama is a fantastically popular political figure whose personal connection with voters led to record turnout among many demographics.

But Obama's appeal probably will not last much beyond 2016, if it even lasts that long. But you need not take my word for it -- nor even Plouffe's. Ask Obama's own 2012 campaign manager, Jim Messina. When pressed by Politico to explain why Obama's re-election campaign was reluctant to share its now-mythical voter database with other Democrats, Messina said: "You know, this organization was built for people who supported this president ... those people were involved because of the issues and positions the president took, and ... you can't just hand it to the next candidate. They have to have their own relationship with voters. ... Look, we learned from our shellacking we took in 2010: Too many Democrats thought they could put Barack Obama's picture on a piece of literature and his supporters would turn out magically for them. It doesn't work like that."

Indeed, it doesn't. Just look at Virginia's Prince William County, which went for Obama by identical 16-point margins (58 percent to 42 percent) in both 2008 and 2012. In 2009, with no Obama on the ballot, the county broke for Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell by 18 points (59 percent to 41 percent). And then in 2010, federal Republican candidates again beat their Democratic counterparts 52 percent to 46 percent.

Obama may have turned Virginia's Washington suburbs blue, but only when his name was on the ballot. Without him, far fewer Democrats bother showing up to the polls. Other Democratic candidates do not connect with voters the way Obama does.

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I think Obama should be forced to share the wealth not only with other Democrats, but also with Republicans.  The same logic of taxing the rich should apply to his political campaign.  I wish some Republican was clever enough to make the demand in the debate over raising taxes.  Louie Gohmert might be a gould choice, in the house and possibly Ted Cruz who want take office for a few more days.