President Obama’s over-the-top lobbying push
President Barack Obama’s putting the full powers of the presidency on display — and on the line — in a way he’s never done before.
In the past, critics have argued that Obama’s priorities, from gun control to climate change, have suffered for his unwillingness to fully engage Congress and the American public with all of the tools of his office. The standard arc: Obama makes a speech or two, sends the issue to Capitol Hill and then keeps his distance. If it passes, he takes credit. If it fails, he blames Congress."
Not this time.
The reason is simple: The path to a win in Congress, if it exists at all, is through lawmakers who now say they’re likely to vote no.
Already, the White House has ceded ground on its original use-of-force authorization language, settling for the reality that only a more narrow version could possibly pass. The White House whip count is bad enough that senior administration officials won’t share it publicly to make the case that they could win in either the Senate or the House right now.
But Obama and his White House are owning every aspect of this operation. The president himself dropped in — for almost 90 minutes — on Vice President Joe Biden’s Sunday night dinner with a group of Senate Republicans. He’s expected to appeal directly to Senate Democrats at their Tuesday lunch on Capitol Hill. And he’s been making phone calls to individual lawmakers."
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/obama-lobbying-push-96489.html
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