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alp227

(31,961 posts)
Sat Mar 2, 2013, 08:34 PM Mar 2013

Stymied by a GOP House, Obama looks ahead to 2014 to cement his legacy

by Scott Wilson and Philip Rucker for Sunday's Washington Post

President Obama, now facing the consequences of automatic spending cuts and the complications they raise for his broader domestic agenda, is taking the most specific steps of his administration in an attempt to ensure the election of a Democratic-controlled Congress in two years.

“What I can’t do is force Congress to do the right thing,” Obama told reporters at the White House on Friday after a fruitless meeting with Republican leaders to avert the country’s latest fiscal crisis, known as the sequester. “The American people may have the capacity to do that.”

Obama, fresh off his November reelection, began almost at once executing plans to win back the House in 2014, which he and his advisers believe will be crucial to the outcome of his second term and to his legacy as president. He is doing so by trying to articulate for the American electorate his own feelings — an exasperation with an opposition party that blocks even the most politically popular elements of his agenda.

Obama has committed to raising money for fellow Democrats, agreed to help recruit viable candidates, and launched a political nonprofit group dedicated to furthering his agenda and that of his congressional allies. The goal is to flip the Republican-held House back to Democratic control, allowing Obama to push forward with a progressive agenda on gun control, immigration, climate change and the economy during his final two years in office, according to congressional Democrats, strategists and others familiar with Obama’s thinking.

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/stymied-by-a-gop-house-obama-looks-ahead-to-2014-to-cement-his-legacy/2013/03/02/5f6f8b94-827d-11e2-a350-49866afab584_singlePage.html

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Stymied by a GOP House, Obama looks ahead to 2014 to cement his legacy (Original Post) alp227 Mar 2013 OP
There is already a great deal of anger over the sequester cuts; but, it will still be an uphill..... LongTomH Mar 2013 #1
Took him four years to figure it out but it looks like he finally gets it tularetom Mar 2013 #2
I suspect, and have argued ... 1StrongBlackMan Mar 2013 #8
You could be right, I mean, I knew it four years ago and the pres is WAY smarter than me tularetom Mar 2013 #9
I think that's exactly it. Drunken Irishman Mar 2013 #10
My thoughts exactly ... 1StrongBlackMan Mar 2013 #11
thanks 1StrongBlackMan.. I Cha Mar 2013 #13
I live in a ruby red state Blue Idaho Mar 2013 #3
hey dems, where's the jobs programs instead of aiding and abetting republicans? nt msongs Mar 2013 #4
better get a filibuster-proof Senate majority too n/t Enrique Mar 2013 #5
Today's DEMs: blkmusclmachine Mar 2013 #6
Not all Dems but many if not most have 2 faces thetruthhurtsforsome Mar 2013 #7
He'd better blast the GOP every chance he gets high density Mar 2013 #12
I fear you're deadly accurate DFW Mar 2013 #14

LongTomH

(8,636 posts)
1. There is already a great deal of anger over the sequester cuts; but, it will still be an uphill.....
Sat Mar 2, 2013, 08:41 PM
Mar 2013

fight in 2014. We have to deal with gerrymandered districts, Repub dirty tricks and a 'mainstream' media intent on pushing the false equivalence meme.

I think the fight is winnable; but, as I said, it will be an uphill, hard fought battle.

tularetom

(23,664 posts)
2. Took him four years to figure it out but it looks like he finally gets it
Sat Mar 2, 2013, 08:41 PM
Mar 2013

He's doing good at placing the responsibility where it belongs. Hope he stays on the attack.

Maybe the media will finally catch on and stop this "both sides are equally to blame" bullshit.

 

1StrongBlackMan

(31,849 posts)
8. I suspect, and have argued ...
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 11:23 AM
Mar 2013

that President Obama (and his planning team) has known this from the start ... he just had to bring a critical mass of the American people to see it; a job made tougher because of the media's "both sides are equally to blame" bullshit.

The only way to do this was to be seen as "willing to compromise" and as "being the adult in the room." And it worked, see the polling ... more specifically, the polling of republicans and independants on these topics.

tularetom

(23,664 posts)
9. You could be right, I mean, I knew it four years ago and the pres is WAY smarter than me
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 04:37 PM
Mar 2013

plus he has a bunch of other smart people working for him. Maybe it just took this long to pound it through the thick skulls of the American people.

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
10. I think that's exactly it.
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 05:01 PM
Mar 2013

He had to establish a narrative that HE was the one willing to work with the Republicans. It worked. Most Americans consistently say Obama is doing a better job, across the board, than the Republican controlled House. Moreover, it was a linchpin in his reelection campaign. There would be no possible 2014 if he had lost in 2012.

 

1StrongBlackMan

(31,849 posts)
11. My thoughts exactly ...
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 07:03 PM
Mar 2013

and not to toot my own horn; but I have been saying so, to much derision, since the 2011 debt-ceiling negotiations. Where many here saw the "worst negotiator ever", I saw a well planned out long game (with 2014 as the focus) ... where many here mockingly talked about X-dimensional chess, I saw nothing mockable.

Cha

(295,921 posts)
13. thanks 1StrongBlackMan.. I
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 09:40 PM
Mar 2013

think something similar.

And, the "media" is getting more busted on their false equivalency bullshit now, too!

Blue Idaho

(4,988 posts)
3. I live in a ruby red state
Sat Mar 2, 2013, 09:34 PM
Mar 2013

But you can bet your buttons I'm giving money to any campaign in any state that's competitive.

Enough is enough.

 

blkmusclmachine

(16,149 posts)
6. Today's DEMs:
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 12:20 AM
Mar 2013

Giving the GOP a helping hand, when it should be giving them a boat anchor.

1 Party, 2 Faces

high density

(13,397 posts)
12. He'd better blast the GOP every chance he gets
Sun Mar 3, 2013, 08:06 PM
Mar 2013

The gerrymandering is going to make this a very tough climb.

DFW

(54,055 posts)
14. I fear you're deadly accurate
Mon Mar 4, 2013, 03:08 AM
Mar 2013

We could get 60% of the votes for House candidates and still be left with Bonehead as Speaker.

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