President Obama’s desperate smear of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is outrageous, but has not been entirely unsuccessful for his party. I agree with other critics who have noted that the Chamber foreign money canard itself will not sway any undecided voters, but that was not the goal of the attack in the first place.

The Obama Democrats have just two goals for the final days of the 2010 campaign: 1) say and do anything to try to energize their demoralized base; and 2) say and do anything to distract Americans from being reminded of their government health care takeover, their job-killing Cap and Tax plan, their record spending and debt destroying our nation’s future, their anemic, jobless recovery, their failed stimulus bill designed to pay off Democrat interest groups rather than restore our economy, and their lawsuit against the state of Arizona for opposing open borders.

Again, based on these goals, the Obama smear of the Chamber is working for them a bit.

But while all honorable Americans should rally to the Chamber’s defense for the next 19 days, on November 3rd and beyond we should remember that at times, the Chamber is part of what’s wrong with our government and our economy.

Consider this quote today from Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce:

… this Chamber supported this administration on TARP, on stimulus, on the auto rescue plan….

It is the Chamber’s support for these types of wasteful corporate give-aways that led me to write yesterday:

I have my differences with the Chamber, which is, of course, happy to work with Big Government in mutual backscratching that is not always in the best interests of the American people….

The Chamber’s job is to help its member businesses be profitable. In that it is no different from the National Education Association, whose duty is to help its member teachers be profitable.

For that very reason, the American people have to keep a watchful eye when politicians work with interest groups, including the Chamber and the NEA. What’s good for one interest group is often not good for America.

Obama has never been in business, does not understand it, does not even like it. That is one reason he is presiding over a jobless recovery. We must not let him distract us from reminding the American people how his policies are weakening this great nation, and how Americans can start to change that right now by getting involved in the closing days of this campaign season: donate money, volunteer, and vote.

[Cross-posted.]