WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama used to say 2012 was his last election. Then, in 2014, he hit the road for some Democrats in friendly states and called it his last campaign. Now, like it or not, he can’t shake 2016.

Whether it’s Hillary Rodham Clinton’s emails, Gov. Scott Walker’s union fight in Wisconsin, Jeb Bush and immigration or Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Iran, Obama is one way or another connected to the presidential aspirations of others.

What’s more, he remains his party’s top fundraising draw, collecting cash for the Democratic National Committee in Atlanta on Tuesday and flying for California on Thursday to dip his card into Los Angeles’ political ATM.

It all highlights that period in a presidency when the White House occupant, no longer running for anything, still looms large as commander in chief, as a party stalwart and as the primary target for the opposition.

Yet even as the president casts his shadow over the next presidential election, the jostling potential candidates hang over him as well.