President Obama was trying hard to get his economic message out on Wednesday. But thanks to Anthony D. Weiner, he really had no chance.
Even as Mr. Obama was talking about his efforts to “rebuild the middle class,” more graphic pictures of Mr. Weiner were popping up online. Cable news channels picked apart the scandal throughout the day, virtually ignoring Mr. Obama’s remarks at Northern Virginia Community College.
And if there was any doubt about what would dominate the evening talk shows it was swept away with the late-afternoon news that Mr. Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, is pregnant.
For Mr. Obama and his Democratic allies, the latest sex scandal involving a congressman from New York is a politically damaging moment that has come at an inopportune time.
It has helped to stop cold the successful Medicare attacks that Democrats had been flinging at Republicans. And it has prevented Mr. Obama and his Capitol Hill allies from responding effectively to the very bad economic reports that came out at the end of last week.
The frustration was evident on Wednesday as a growing number of Democratic lawmakers and officials began urging Mr. Weiner to step down, if only, they seemed to suggest, to clear the way for a discussion about something else — anything else.
“Lying is unforgivable,” said Tim Kaine, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and now a United States Senate candidate in Virginia. “Lying publicly about something like this is unforgivable, and he should resign.”
Representative Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania, a top official at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, issued a statement saying: “Having the respect of your constituents is fundamental for a member of Congress. In light of Anthony Weiner’s offensive behavior online, he should resign.”
At the White House, Jay Carney, the press secretary, gamely stuck to his script as a reporter asked about the biggest news of the day.
“We have no comment on that story,” Mr. Carney said, moving quickly to a reporter with a question about oil production.
But when you are president, even news that has nothing to do with you can affect your ability to set the agenda. And Mr. Obama has had a string of bad luck when it comes to the timing of his message as president.
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; the Florida pastor who threatened to burn a Koran; the controversy over the comments of a worker at the Agriculture Department; the Virginia couple who sneaked into Mr. Obama’s first state dinner — all were distractions that at least briefly knocked the White House off message.
The scandal involving Mr. Weiner could have a direct impact on New York politics. It seems that the congressman’s dreams of running for mayor of New York City are likely to be dashed.
And there are, of course, the inevitable attempts by Republicans to taint Democrats for their association with Mr. Weiner. Several e-mails by Republican operatives this week pointed out the Democratic officials who had not rushed to condemn Mr. Weiner’s actions.
But Republicans have had, if anything, more sex scandals recently than Democrats, so those attempts may have little lasting impact. Instead, the broader damage may be to the Democratic efforts to build some positive election momentum in a year when the economic situation seems likely to continue to be grim.
Mr. Obama’s approval numbers, which had been boosted for a time by the killing of Osama bin Laden, have crashed back to where they were before the military action — hovering just under 50 percent.
And the Democratic attacks on Republicans for wanting to “end Medicare as we know it” — from, among others, Mr. Weiner himself — have been replaced by Republican demands that Democrats distance themselves from Mr. Weiner and return campaign funds they received from him.
How much has what some in the media have inevitably dubbed Weinergate affected the political conversation in Washington? A phone call this week with a Democratic operative was focused primarily on Mr. Weiner and whether or not he could survive the building scandal.
As the conversation was about to end, the operative blurted the word “Medicare” out of the blue.
It was an attempt, he explained to the confused reporter, to be able to sleep well at night knowing that he had at least tried to get a reporter to write about what he considers the best issue for Democratic candidates. Given the news about Mr. Weiner, he admitted that he knew that it would not work.
“I still gotta try,” he said.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/weiner-scandal-is-a-case-of-bad-timing-for-democrats/
Even as Mr. Obama was talking about his efforts to “rebuild the middle class,” more graphic pictures of Mr. Weiner were popping up online. Cable news channels picked apart the scandal throughout the day, virtually ignoring Mr. Obama’s remarks at Northern Virginia Community College.
And if there was any doubt about what would dominate the evening talk shows it was swept away with the late-afternoon news that Mr. Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, is pregnant.
For Mr. Obama and his Democratic allies, the latest sex scandal involving a congressman from New York is a politically damaging moment that has come at an inopportune time.
It has helped to stop cold the successful Medicare attacks that Democrats had been flinging at Republicans. And it has prevented Mr. Obama and his Capitol Hill allies from responding effectively to the very bad economic reports that came out at the end of last week.
The frustration was evident on Wednesday as a growing number of Democratic lawmakers and officials began urging Mr. Weiner to step down, if only, they seemed to suggest, to clear the way for a discussion about something else — anything else.
“Lying is unforgivable,” said Tim Kaine, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and now a United States Senate candidate in Virginia. “Lying publicly about something like this is unforgivable, and he should resign.”
Representative Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania, a top official at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, issued a statement saying: “Having the respect of your constituents is fundamental for a member of Congress. In light of Anthony Weiner’s offensive behavior online, he should resign.”
At the White House, Jay Carney, the press secretary, gamely stuck to his script as a reporter asked about the biggest news of the day.
“We have no comment on that story,” Mr. Carney said, moving quickly to a reporter with a question about oil production.
But when you are president, even news that has nothing to do with you can affect your ability to set the agenda. And Mr. Obama has had a string of bad luck when it comes to the timing of his message as president.
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; the Florida pastor who threatened to burn a Koran; the controversy over the comments of a worker at the Agriculture Department; the Virginia couple who sneaked into Mr. Obama’s first state dinner — all were distractions that at least briefly knocked the White House off message.
The scandal involving Mr. Weiner could have a direct impact on New York politics. It seems that the congressman’s dreams of running for mayor of New York City are likely to be dashed.
And there are, of course, the inevitable attempts by Republicans to taint Democrats for their association with Mr. Weiner. Several e-mails by Republican operatives this week pointed out the Democratic officials who had not rushed to condemn Mr. Weiner’s actions.
But Republicans have had, if anything, more sex scandals recently than Democrats, so those attempts may have little lasting impact. Instead, the broader damage may be to the Democratic efforts to build some positive election momentum in a year when the economic situation seems likely to continue to be grim.
Mr. Obama’s approval numbers, which had been boosted for a time by the killing of Osama bin Laden, have crashed back to where they were before the military action — hovering just under 50 percent.
And the Democratic attacks on Republicans for wanting to “end Medicare as we know it” — from, among others, Mr. Weiner himself — have been replaced by Republican demands that Democrats distance themselves from Mr. Weiner and return campaign funds they received from him.
How much has what some in the media have inevitably dubbed Weinergate affected the political conversation in Washington? A phone call this week with a Democratic operative was focused primarily on Mr. Weiner and whether or not he could survive the building scandal.
As the conversation was about to end, the operative blurted the word “Medicare” out of the blue.
It was an attempt, he explained to the confused reporter, to be able to sleep well at night knowing that he had at least tried to get a reporter to write about what he considers the best issue for Democratic candidates. Given the news about Mr. Weiner, he admitted that he knew that it would not work.
“I still gotta try,” he said.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/weiner-scandal-is-a-case-of-bad-timing-for-democrats/
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