The White House Office of Public Engagement, which is under Obama’s favorite aide, Valerie Jarrett, is still somewhat on top of gun control as a primary goal of this Administration.
They are hosting weekly meetings with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Moms Demand Action, the Center for American Progress, Organizing for Action and Americans for Responsible Solutions in order to plan out the future of more gun control in the next 3 years.
Interestingly, it would seem that Vice President Joe Biden has either been sidelined for not getting “the job” done before, or he’s just lost interest in it since there is no path to federal legislation. The gun control groups have now made it very clear that they are steering clear of federal gun control and focusing on the states.
“…gun control as a primary goal of this Administration…”
I’m not going to imply that gun control isn’t a top priority of this Administration, but, I am informed by my experiences working in the defense industry that often programs are kept alive — while nothing at all is done — just for appearances, to placate various constituencies.
I remember flying to the west coast once a month for a year and a half, to meet with other major defense contractors, where the agenda was “Did you do anything this month? Me neither. Maybe next month? Bar’s open!”
I’m sure you see the analogies in that. It’s probably a pretty fair approximation of White House gun control meetings. At least I hope so.
I don’t think Biden lost interest, I think he knows that continuing to be the face of Obama’s gun control push will hurt his chances for a presidential nomination.
That’s interesting as a viewpoint because one Democratic strategist involved in the meetings argues in that linked article that Biden’s continued public statements celebrating Bloomberg’s gun control efforts and promising to use any momentum he creates to push federal bills again is actually being done to improve his chances in 2016. Biden isn’t involved in the meetings anymore, but he hasn’t backed down, either. In fact, the article points to an aide defending the notion that it was still a priority for Biden.
Biden’s staff is still involved in the meetings. Its tough to judge his direct involvement though, since he’s been spending much of his time the last few months dealing with the shutdown, Obamacare, and the various foreign policy domestic espionage issues that he was brought on board to oversee as a 30+ year member of the Senate and former Ranking Member (chair??) of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Sounds to me like typical political maneuvering. Has his staff say it is still a priority, while distancing his personal involvement as to deny support if it tanks and becomes poison in the elections.
Given that I don’t believe anti-gun sentiments have ever won anyone any votes to speak of, I’m suspecting the Democrats have tin ears as big as the Republicans, when it comes to judging what issues will appeal to voters. But, that comes from living within a subculture, and in an echo chamber.
Gun control will not be an issue for the 2014 mid-terms or the 2016 presidential election.
The Democrats will run on the proposition that Republicans want women to be raped by fat creepy dudes and forced to bear the children, and Republicans want to murder blacks and hispanics.
Republicans will run on the proposition that “The democrats have valid points with those attacks, but I’m not as bad as other republicans.”
“I’m not as bad as other republicans.â€
I think you’ve got it pegged, Dusty. Also don’t forget “But when I said it, it was taken out of context. . .”
I think you make a mistake if you believe this administration is as political as most administrations and willing to bend their agenda based on how the winds are blowing.
For better or for worse, I think Obama is an idealist, and believes his legacy (for which he will be remembered as the greatest president in the history of the US and the World) is to bring the US into line with progressive theologies. One of which is gun control.
He may be a vicious politician using all the old tricks and Chicago tactics to get things done, but the things he is trying to get done are based on an ideology that I think he really believes in.
He probably believes he’s going to get his face on Mount Rushmore and be remembered as fondly by Dems as Reagan by Repubs (except more deservedly so, as he is fundamentally changing the whole dang country and Reagan just held the line for a few years).
And he is now in his second term so he can go balls to the wall and push his ideology hard. Biden may or may not be an ideologue (I would argue he is not) but I think he knows that regardless, gun control is a dicey topic come elections. So yes, the Administration in general, under Obama, is not going to let this go. Biden on the other hand, wasn’t sidelined for effectiveness. If they were concerned about that he would have never been the face of the push to begin with.
Eh, I think it is unwise to underestimate Uncle Joe.
He puts his foot in his mouth every time he speaks off script, to be true, but voters don’t give a shit. Heck, in the Ryan-Biden debate, the polls said Biden “won.” You have to remember that we tend to be knowledgeable and fact-oriented; to your average dumbass Joe on the Street, Biden apparently sounds like a rocket scientist.
Additionally, Obama has proven he has little ability to get anything done on Congress without D majorities in both houses. As a veteran of the Senate, Uncle Joe is more likely to be able to twist arms and make things happen.
I see Biden as being more like a Lyndon Johnson type who has some ability to get things going behind the scenes on the Hill. And that makes him dangerous.
It’s hard to imagine Joe beating out Hillary for the nomination … but unfortunately either may be more effective in getting moderate gun-control passed to keep nudging us down the slippery slope. Obama isn’t one to compromise and that’s both good and bad — but the fact that he tried to pass the entire liberal gun control agenda at once (even though it was boiled down to far less at the end) worked in our favor, I’d say.