President Obama’s reelection campaign has evolved into something of a front group for the large swaths of the health-care industry that profit from Obamacare — that’s how I read this Politico report:
Several former White House staffers have found a new way to promote Obamacare: They’re spending millions of dollars in secret corporate and union cash, and they’re harnessing grass-roots tactics to some of the biggest names in the health care industry.
And well beyond ObamaCare, the campaign organization, Organizing for America, will bring together big money and political power, this New York Times report shows:
..those contributions will also translate into access, according to donors courted by the president’s aides. Next month, Organizing for Action will hold a “founders summit” at a hotel near the White House, where donors paying $50,000 each will mingle with Mr. Obama’s former campaign manager, Jim Messina, and Mr. Carson, who previously led the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Giving or raising $500,000 or more puts donors on a national advisory board for Mr. Obama’s group and the privilege of attending quarterly meetings with the president, along with other meetings at the White House. Moreover, the new cash demands on Mr. Obama’s top donors and bundlers come as many of them are angling for appointments to administration jobs or ambassadorships.
These revelations may surprise you if you listened to President Obama’s rhetoric on money in politics. But not if you’ve followed his record. After all, his lobbyist-donation-ban was hole-ridden; his convention was funded by corporations and lobbying firms benefitting from his policies; these corporations also bankrolled his inauguration.
