Obama Still In Search Of Big Second Term
Accomplishment Amid Immigration Uncertainty
(By Jim Kuhnhenn, Associated Press, 12 July 2013)
A dramatic
tax-raising deal last New Year's looked like it might be a breakthrough, signaling
improved second-term relations between newly re-elected President Barack Obama
and a divided Congress. At least that's what the White House hoped. But six months later, growing uncertainty
over a sweeping immigration overhaul measure has dimmed expectations for a big
summertime achievement and left Obama still in search of a marquee legislative
accomplishment to mark his second four years.
His advisers now concede that their best shot at changing the
immigration system might come in the fall, after lawmakers return from their
August recess. But that could be a long shot during a period already crowded
with other issues.
During the
autumn months, Obama's administration will be dealing with one of the most
challenging aspects of the historic health care overhaul – signing up millions
of Americans for insurance coverage. And if that's not enough, Obama also will
be locked in an unexpected battle over domestic food aid – while working
through budget disputes with Congress as the new fiscal year looms in October
and the government approaches its borrowing limit. Then there's overseas
turmoil in Egypt and Syria. Already
shadowing the president are two major letdowns earlier this year – a gun
control measure that Republicans blocked in the Democratic-controlled Senate
and the failure to avoid automatic spending cuts that further trimmed the
government's budget. "He has a
Herculean task ahead of him," Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, the past chairman of
the Congressional Black Caucus, said hours after he and other black lawmakers
met with the president this week. "I am convinced he is fully aware of the
difficulties in his path, difficulties that could reduce his legacy."
Before his
re-election, Obama liked to tell supporters that a second term would
"break the fever" with Republicans, arguing that they no longer would
need to routinely block his agenda because he wouldn't be seeking election
again. By last month, that optimism was gone.
"When it comes to doing the things that need to get done, we're
just not getting a lot of cooperation from the other side," he grumbled to
donors at a June fundraiser in Palo Alto, Calif. Republicans maintain that Obama's initiatives
simply go further than they are willing to go. Many refused to support expanded
background checks for firearm purchases at gun shows and online. They rejected
Obama's efforts to combine spending cuts with more tax increases. And now, on
immigration, many oppose a path to citizenship for immigrants illegally in the
United States – a key provision in the overhaul Obama seeks.
To be sure, the
legislative gridlock has occasionally eased. In February, Republican leaders
allowed an expansion to the Violence Against Women Act by extending domestic
violence protections to gays, lesbians and transsexuals. And Republicans and
Democrats are still trying to strike a deal that would lower interest rates on
student loans. But another trouble spot
for Obama emerged just recently on what historically has been a guaranteed
bipartisan achievement: approval of legislation that includes money for
agricultural subsidies and food stamps. The Senate passed a single measure. The
House defeated its version. And Republican leaders this week divided that
measure into two. Obama, who opposes proposed cuts to food stamps in the House
bill, has threatened a veto, signaling the food fight could consume the coming
weeks.
White House
aides say they're not surprised by the difficulties Obama faces. "No one expected that postelection
everything would be easy, that all the historic, huge differences between the
parties on the big issues would all go away," said senior Obama adviser
Dan Pfeiffer. "We're six months
into our term," he added. "We've already fulfilled one of our biggest
campaign pledges in preserving tax cuts for the middle class and having the
rates of the wealthy go back to what they were under President Clinton."
On immigration, he says that "there are some serious challenges in the
way, but six months in and having a bill through the Senate with a bipartisan
majority is historically rapid progress." Still, White
House aides had argued that a solid bipartisan vote on immigration in the
Senate would give the legislation momentum through the House. Two weeks ago, at
a news conference in South Africa, Obama called on the House to act before the
August recess. "Now is the time," he declared.
House
Republicans ignored him, saying they would not take up the Senate bill and
would instead tackle immigration in a piecemeal way. "I'm much more
concerned about doing it right than I am in meeting some deadline," House
Speaker John Boehner said. That decision
put a sizable question mark over one of Obama's biggest second-term priorities. "This is going to be a tougher fight
than people had anticipated," said Simon Rosenberg, president of NDN, a
Democratic-leaning Washington think tank and a longtime advocate of overhauling
immigration laws. "It could go on for six months; it could go on for the
next couple of years."
Some Obama
allies fear that failure to win on immigration – an issue many believed was
ripe for change after last year's elections – will simply embolden his
opponents. Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat, said it "could conceivably wound
the president in a way that would make the next three years move very, very
slowly and painfully." Others are
still upbeat. "It's an important
moment that could help him if something gets done, if not in his timeline, in
the near future," said Patrick Griffin, who handled legislative relations
for former President Bill Clinton. As
significant as the immigration legislation may be, Obama is treading carefully,
wary of alienating Republicans. He has faced some pressure to speak out
more forcefully and to use the power of his office to give immigration the
visibility he has given to past clashes with Congress over taxes and student
loans. "Every
situation is different," David Plouffe, Obama's former top political
adviser, said after visiting the White House this week. "Some have called
for more of an approach that is geared to the outside. I think you have to wait
and see how this develops."
While White
House aides and advisers believe Republicans will inflict long-lasting
political damage on their own party if they continue to block a comprehensive
immigration bill, those advisers say Obama is not ready to hit the road and
wage a full-throated partisan fight.
"We're doing meetings, we're talking to folks, we're behind the
scenes at every step," Pfeiffer said. Asked when the pressure might mount,
he said: "There might be a moment where the hammer comes out. But we're
not there yet."
Unpredictable Calamities Upend Obama’s
Second Term
(By David Nakamura, Washington Post, 16 September 2013)
President
Obama hoped to seize control of the news cycle Monday. Instead, events overtook
him and his message again. As reports
broke of a deadly shooting rampage at the Navy Yard, three miles from the White
House, the president was forced to alter his script. Over the past three weeks,
his muddled response to reports of chemical weapons use in Syria has distracted
the administration from looming fights with Congress over the budget and debt
ceiling. This time, Obama was forced to
rewrite prepared remarks at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where he
was set to talk about the five-year anniversary of the stock market collapse
and frame the fiscal debates ahead. “We
still don’t know all the facts, but we do know that several people have been
shot and some have been killed,” Obama said solemnly, a collection of
small-business owners standing awkwardly behind him on stage.
They had
been invited to the White House to serve as symbolic reminders of the impact of
economic policy on ordinary Americans as the president launched a week of
events intended as a pivot away from Syria. Obama delayed his remarks for more than 45
minutes to avoid conflicting with a live news conference with D.C. Mayor
Vincent C. Gray (D) and Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, who briefed reporters on
the scene near the shootings in Southeast Washington. Then, after the president
addressed the shootings, cable television networks abruptly cut away and
returned to the breaking coverage of rampage.
Obama’s
second term has been buffeted from the start by unpredictable calamities that
have helped scuttle his priorities. In December, a mass shooting at an
elementary school in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 people dead, including 20
children, prompted the newly reelected president to focus on an unsuccessful
attempt to pass gun-control legislation ahead of other priorities. In many ways, Obama has yet to recover from
that early-second-term loss. Immigration reform, which was supposed to be
Obama’s top domestic priority, is stalled in the Republican-controlled House. A
budget standoff in the spring led the White House to accept mandatory,
across-the-board spending cuts that have forced federal agencies to scale back
programs. And escalating violence in Egypt and Syria has led to renewed
questions about Obama’s foreign policy in the Middle East.
White House
press secretary Jay Carney declined to comment Monday on whether the
administration might revisit its push for gun-control legislation in the wake
of the Navy Yard shootings. “What is
true is certainly that the president supports, as do an overwhelming majority
of Americans, common-sense measures to reduce gun violence,” Carney said. He
noted that Obama is pursuing a list of smaller-scale executive actions to
reduce gun violence that do not require Congressional approval. It appears unlikely that another gun-control
push is in the offing given the press of other legislative issues.
The
administration is pushing forward with implementation of Obama’s signature
health-care law in the face of concerted Republican opposition. The president
also must name a new chairman of the Federal Reserve after former Treasury
Secretary Lawrence H. Summers withdrew from consideration for the job over the
weekend due to a lack of Democratic support on Capitol Hill. In his remarks on the economy, which went on
for more than 3,800 words, Obama said: “This country has worked too hard for
too long to dig out of a crisis just to see their elected representatives here
in Washington purposely cause another crisis. Let’s stop the threats. Let’s
stop the political posturing.”
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