Obamawatch continues

The US President’s powers are notoriously limited in the legislative sphere, so how does he get Congress to do his bidding?

President Obama has notched up over 50 days in the White House and in a recent fptp article I note on how he is progressing. He has managed to pass his stimulus package, but now he faces a tougher struggle in convincing the legislature of the merits of the myriad spending commitments contained in his budget.

When his stimulus bill was winding its way through Congress, he got out of the beltway to meet those people suffering most under the economic meltdown. In his speech to the joint session of Congress he moved from the (deliberately as a way of dampening expectations) downbeat messages of his early days in the Oval office to a rousing campaign mode speech.

Now he is seeking to employ the kinds of techniques he took to a new level during his campaign. Say the Economist:

‘Mr Obama is currently deploying the formidable resources he built up during his campaign—including contact details for 10m donors, supporters and volunteers—to sell his policies. David Plouffe, the man who managed Mr Obama’s presidential campaign, has sent millions of e-mails to encourage them to support the White House’s agenda.

One of them contains as good a definition of the permanent campaign as any: “In the next few weeks we’ll be asking you to do some of the same things we asked of you during the campaign—talking directly to people in your communities about the president’s ideas for long-term prosperity.” Another, which includes a video of the president, asks supporters to put pressure on their congressman to pass Mr Obama’s budget, by calling his or her office and reciting a little pro-Obama speech.’

This is a classic tactic used by Ronald Reagan over 25 years ago when he tried to appeal over the heads of Congress to put pressure on legislators to pass his tax cuts. Will it work? Obama has a majority in both houses (a luxury not enjoyed by the gipper) but a vote down as equally partisan lines as his stimulus package on the budget may damage his standing as someone who is ready for a fresh, post partisan approach.

And then there’s his unprecedented for an incumbent President appearance on a late night chat show—more on this later.