Obama is campaigning for Democrats even as the general election has not yet started. He has a rather stealth way of getting the message across.
President Obama warns Elkhart Indiana
President Obama won the state of Indiana in 2008. He lost the state in 2012. Each time he lost Elkhart. One of his first visits upon entering the White House was a trip to Elkhart, Indiana. The town had been devastated by the downturn in manufacturing. Unemployment was twice the then national average hovering at twenty percent.
In an interview with Chuck Todd back in 2009, President Obama implied that Elkhart could be used as a barometer for his economic success. Elkhart’s unemployment rate is lower than the national average now.
The President returned to Elkhart for more than a victory lap. He wanted to rub the Democratic economic reality into the psyche of this Republican town.
“If you watch the talking heads on TV, they’ll say the reason the folks are angry is because nobody has paid enough attention to the plight of working Americans in community like these,” the President said. “We’ve got to challenge the assumptions behind this economic story. Communities like Elkhart haven’t been forgotten in my White House. And the results prove that our focus has paid off. … I came here precisely because this county votes Republican. That’s one of the reasons I came here. Because if the economy is really what’s driving this election, then it is voters like you who have to decide between two different version of what strengthens the middle-class.”
In other words, while the narrative has been negative, look at the success in Elkhart. Elkhart has the power to throw it all away by voting against their own interests if they stick with the party they normally choose. The President could not be clearer.