WASHINGTON - Even as President Obama denounces Washington's campaign-obsessed culture, the Democratic Party machinery is planning to exploit divisions among Republicans for partisan advantage, a stance that seems at odds with the president's bipartisan message.
A day before Obama used his State of the Union speech last month to call for an end to the "perpetual campaign," the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee put out a memo advising candidates on how to create rifts within the GOP.
The memo recommended that candidates "trap" the opposition into taking positions on policies that caused the recession. And it suggests Democrats force opponents to commit themselves on polarizing issues: whether Obama is "a U.S. citizen" (he was born in Hawaii, though some remain unconvinced) and "a socialist."
"If your opponent has taken a moderate position in the past, you should be sure to make sure their primary opponent or conservative activists know it," the memo said. "This will cause them to take heat from their primary opponents and could likely provoke a flip flop ..."
The Democratic National Committee also circulated an e-mail targeting Republican Mitt Romney, considered a potential contender in the 2012 presidential election. The e-mail sought to cast Romney as "flip-flopping" based on positions he takes in a book due out in March.
Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior adviser to Romney's political action committee, said: "This is the type of knee-jerk politics that has kept Washington trapped in political gridlock for decades."
With the Republican Party no less zealous in maneuvering for partisan advantage, the toxic permanent campaign atmosphere that Obama decried shows no signs of abating, political analysts said.
Pointing to both parties' committees, Democratic strategist Joe Trippi said, "They can't stop themselves. Those committees don't get paid to lose seats. They don't get paid to play patty-cake."
