Obama to rally healthcare backers
at OFA summit
By Justin Sink - 11/01/13 03:53 PM
EDT
President Obama will appear Monday
at a healthcare summit run by the group formed from his former reelection
campaign, according to White House and Organizing
For Action officials.
The president is expected to speak
at an event designed to rally grassroots supporters to help the
administration's push to get uninsured consumers to purchase healthcare plans
available under ObamaCare.
The announcement of Obama's
attendance at the conference comes on the heels of White House press secretary
Jay Carney conceding that early enrollments in the healthcare exchanges would
be low, partially due to continued technical problems with the ObamaCare
website.
"We concede that they will be
[low]," Carney said Friday. "We said that even before Oct. 1, before
we had the trouble with the website because that is how enrollment works."
The White House has said it hopes
to make up for disappointing early numbers with a late surge of enrollees.
Obama will also attend a
"working dinner" with top OFA donors, campaign alumni, staff, and
representatives from other top liberal organizations — including Planned
Parenthood, AFSCME, SEIU and the Center for American Progress.
OFA described the summit as
"an opportunity to hear from groups and individuals about the excitement
they are seeing around ObamaCare and the importance of the six-month period
when so many will sign up for affordable healthcare" in a release on
Friday.
Earlier in the day, the
organization launched a new initiative urging parents and grandparents who
supported the president to push their younger relatives to sign up for
ObamaCare during holiday gatherings.
"This campaign focuses on
encouraging parents and grandparents to talk to the young adults in their lives
about the importance of signing up for health coverage," Organizing for
Action said in a statement.
As part of the effort, the group
launched a new website and YouTube video on Friday encouraging supporters to
“think about how you’ll bring it up” to family members. The page includes
"conversation tips" and a "packing list" of information
individuals need to sign up for insurance.
Obama's attendance at the event
will doubtlessly again raise questions about the president's relationship with
OFA. Watchdog groups and Republicans have accused the White House of selling
access to the White House through the outside group, which accepts unlimited
campaign donations.
OFA officials have deflected the
criticism, arguing that nobody is guaranteed an audience with the president and
noting that the group discloses its donors even though it is not required to do
so by law.
Organizing For Action
Organizing
for Action is the successor organization for the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign.
Note: Andrew Tobias was
a contributor for Organizing for Action,
and a funder for the Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Michael Kempner
was a contributor for Organizing for
Action, and a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Stephen J.
Cloobeck was a contributor for Organizing
for Action, a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and a contributor for the Majority PAC.
Fred
Eychaner was a contributor for Organizing
for Action, a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and a contributor for the Majority PAC.
John
D. Goldman was a contributor for Organizing
for Action, and a contributor for the Majority
PAC.
William E.
Little Jr. was a contributor for Organizing
for Action, and a contributor for the Majority
PAC.
Amy
P. Goldman was a contributor for Organizing
for Action, a contributor for the Majority
PAC, and a contributor for the American
Bridge 21st Century.
Barbara Stiefel
was a contributor for Organizing for Action,
and a contributor for the American
Bridge 21st Century.
Wayne
D. Jordan was a contributor for the American
Bridge 21st Century, and is a director at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
George
Soros was a contributor for the Majority
PAC, a contributor for the American
Bridge 21st Century, a supporter for the Center for American Progress, a member of the Democracy Alliance, is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and the
chairman for the Foundation to Promote
Open Society.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
and Center for American Progress.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Center for American Progress, the Urban Institute (think tank), the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and the Climate Reality Project.
George Soros backs pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC
S. Donald Sussman
was a director at the Democracy Alliance,
a contributor for Organizing for Action,
and is a director at the Center for
American Progress.
Marcia L. Carsey
is a life trustee for the Urban
Institute (think tank), and was a contributor for Organizing for Action.
William H.
Scheide is a senior director at the NAACP
Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and was a contributor for Organizing for Action.
Orin
S. Kramer is a director at the Climate
Reality Project, a friend of Albert
A. Gore Jr., and was a contributor for Organizing
for Action.
Albert
A. Gore Jr. is a friend of Orin S.
Kramer, and the chairman for the Climate
Reality Project.
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