Running Against a Do Nothing Congress
President Obama is now prepared to put forward jobs agenda that will likely not pass Congress, and then run against the do nothing Congress when they fail to enact it. From the Wall Street Journal:
Going forward, he said that he will press Congress to pass his proposals. “I’ll be putting forward, when they come back in September, a very specific plan to boost the economy, to create jobs, and to control our deficit. And my attitude is: Get it done. And if they don’t get it done, then we’ll be running against a Congress that’s not doing anything for the American people, and the choice will be very stark and will be very clear.”
Since voters traditionally blame incumbent for the state of the economy the best thing for Obama’s re-election prospects would be enacting policies that produce strong economic growth. Given that it is highly unlikely that President Obama will get any significant stimulative measures out of the Republican controlled House, trying to shift the blame for the bad economy onto Congress for refusing to take action is a pretty good plan B.
Getting voters to solely blame the Congress and not blame the President for the poor state of the economy isn’t easy, but with disapproval of Congress at a historical high this might be a message the electorate will be open to.
This strategy would work best if Obama didn’t just use the do nothing Congress as purely a campaign message, but also an excuse to start creatively using the powers of the Presidency to unilaterally pursue policies to help the economy and address the still ongoing housing crisis. This would position him to take credit if the economy improves, but also blame Congress for holding him back if those measures don’t improve the economy enough.
The past few months have produced a string of bad economic news, which is terrible news for the Obama campaign given how closely support for him is tied to perception about the economy. This talk about possibly campaigning against a highly unpopular do nothing Congress is the first sign in a very long time that the Obama team is finally getting the real reason they are in such bad political shape and are shaping a political strategy to deal with this reality.
Running Against a Do Nothing Congress
President Obama is now prepared to put forward jobs agenda that will likely not pass Congress, and run against the do nothing Congress when they fail to enact it. From the Wall Street Journal:
Going forward, he said that he will press Congress to pass his proposals. “I’ll be putting forward, when they come back in September, a very specific plan to boost the economy, to create jobs, and to control our deficit. And my attitude is: Get it done. And if they don’t get it done, then we’ll be running against a Congress that’s not doing anything for the American people, and the choice will be very stark and will be very clear.”
Since voters traditionally blame incumbent for the state of the economy the best thing for Obama’s re-election prospects would be enacting policies that produce strong economic growth. Given that it is highly unlikely Obama will get any significant stimulative measures out of the Republican controlled House, trying to shift the blame for the bad economy on the refusal of Congress to take action is a pretty good plan B.
Getting voters to solely blame the Congress and not blame the President for the poor state of the economy isn’t easy, but with disapproval of Congress at a historical highs this might be a message the electorate will be open to.
This strategy would work best if Obama didn’t just use the do nothing Congress as purely a campaign message, but also an excuse to start creatively using the powers of the Presidency to unilaterally pursue policies to help the economy and address the still ongoing housing crisis. This would position him to take credit if the economy improves, but also blame Congress for holding him back if those measures don’t improve the economy enough.
The past few months have produced a string of bad economic news, which is terrible news for the Obama campaign given how closely support for him is tied to perception about the economy. This talk about possibly campaigning against a highly unpopular do nothing Congress, is the first sign in a very long time that the Obama team is finally starting to get the real reason they are in such bad political shape and are shaping a political strategy to deal with this reality.
