Here's How Obama Can Go It Alone
The biggest problems can't be solved with simple, unilateral solutions. But that doesn't mean he's powerless.
By Ronald Brownstein, National Journal
January 30, 2014
President Obama is right that through his remaining months he can leave his deepest imprint primarily through unilateral actions that don't require congressional cooperation. But they aren't the actions he highlighted the most in this week's State of the Union.
In the speech, Obama offered a coherent vision of the president as catalyst and cheerleader. He correctly argued that while the country is stalemated in Washington, businesses, local governments, and nonprofit organizations still show enormous vitality in confronting big problems ranging from education to stagnant incomes. With vigor, he pledged to mobilize the innovators already driving that change. Congress, he insisted, could join him—or stand aside and marginalize itself.
The mission Obama defined of crystallizing bottom-up innovation is a worthwhile, even creative, use of presidential authority. But for all its virtues, this approach contains a huge hole: Bold federal action is still the president's most important lever to accelerate grassroots change. It's as if Obama sought to expand health care coverage by convening a White House conference of small employers who are already insuring their workers and providing a favorable interpretation of tax law to nudge others. He covered incalculably more people by passing through Congress the health reform law that had eluded his predecessors.
And for all the with-or-without-you brio, Obama has few chances to reach such significant legislative agreements with congressional Republicans. On immigration, the House GOP this week cracked open the door to legal status for the 11 million immigrants here without documents—but the road to agreement remains long. William Galston, a veteran Democratic thinker, also sees opportunities in tax reform that might simultaneously fund infrastructure spending. But many other observers would be surprised if Republicans in Congress, believing that the botched Obamacare rollout has provided them the 2014 edge, throw Obama the lifeline of any big legislative accomplishments.
(More here.)
By Ronald Brownstein, National Journal
January 30, 2014
President Obama is right that through his remaining months he can leave his deepest imprint primarily through unilateral actions that don't require congressional cooperation. But they aren't the actions he highlighted the most in this week's State of the Union.
In the speech, Obama offered a coherent vision of the president as catalyst and cheerleader. He correctly argued that while the country is stalemated in Washington, businesses, local governments, and nonprofit organizations still show enormous vitality in confronting big problems ranging from education to stagnant incomes. With vigor, he pledged to mobilize the innovators already driving that change. Congress, he insisted, could join him—or stand aside and marginalize itself.
The mission Obama defined of crystallizing bottom-up innovation is a worthwhile, even creative, use of presidential authority. But for all its virtues, this approach contains a huge hole: Bold federal action is still the president's most important lever to accelerate grassroots change. It's as if Obama sought to expand health care coverage by convening a White House conference of small employers who are already insuring their workers and providing a favorable interpretation of tax law to nudge others. He covered incalculably more people by passing through Congress the health reform law that had eluded his predecessors.
And for all the with-or-without-you brio, Obama has few chances to reach such significant legislative agreements with congressional Republicans. On immigration, the House GOP this week cracked open the door to legal status for the 11 million immigrants here without documents—but the road to agreement remains long. William Galston, a veteran Democratic thinker, also sees opportunities in tax reform that might simultaneously fund infrastructure spending. But many other observers would be surprised if Republicans in Congress, believing that the botched Obamacare rollout has provided them the 2014 edge, throw Obama the lifeline of any big legislative accomplishments.
(More here.)
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