Congressional Democrats met with President Obama today and asked him would he PLEASE unequivocably stand up for Democratic priorities and for the policy agenda of his party?
WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats challenged President Barack Obama to more forcefully use his bully pulpit during their White House meeting Thursday, but Obama signaled he would not change course in upcoming battles with Republicans....
The challenge -- on behalf of the many Democrats who have long complained that Obama is not making enough use of his White House megaphone -- was principally delivered by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)....
But Obama responded that he has to be more careful and more considered than that, and that he is executing an existing plan.....
"He said, 'There's a difference between me and a member of Congress,'" another lawmaker said, paraphrasing the president as saying: "When I say something the markets react, all of society reacts, other countries react. I've got to be careful with what I say. I can't just say it for brinkmanship. I've got to say it in a way so that I get what I want said, but I don't upset markets and so on."
So Obama thinks he's not free to say or do partisan things. Really? If that were true, why bother electing a president from one party as opposed to another? Why not outlaw party affiliation altogether from holding the presidency if that were true?
Have Republican presidents acted as if they felt constrained that way? Did Bush? Not that I remember.
More...
I think this definitively settles the question of what's going on with President Obama and his preference for bipartisanship over his own agenda. Because his remarks indicate that he still remembers what agenda he ran on and that he still believes in it. He hasn't sold out and he isn't simply cowed by the opposition. He just believes that now that he's president he's no longer free to pursue it.
Weird, or what?
This at least is good:
Attendees said other key meeting topics included raising taxes on the wealthy, new highway and jobs bills, withdrawing from Afghanistan and protecting domestic social programs in ongoing budget talks with the Republicans.
The president offered few specifics on those fronts, but did insist he'd stand by Medicare, which the Republican budget proposal would turn into a more costly system of subsidies for private insurance programs. And Obama allowed that raising revenues was on the table.
"He said Medicare is not negotiable," said Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.), who felt the overall discussion was positive...
We can also hang onto hopes that that mysterious "existing plan" he's following is about promoting the mildly progressive agenda he ran on and not just about his own re-election. 11-dimensional chess, anyone?