One of the most frequent complaints from Barack Obama’s supporters during his first year in office was that the President was too passive. He never imposed his will on Congress the way a forceful president does. According to White House aides, that’s about to change.
Politico says that Obama plans to use the momentum from health-care reform’s success to push Congress “to close campaign-finance loopholes opened by the Citizens United case, adopt his overhaul of the No Child Left Behind education bill, and perhaps even tackle a clean-energy bill.”
Robert Gibbs says the President hopes Republicans learned a lesson from their strategy to just say no to health-care reform. The lesson: When you work together you may get some concessions, but when you’re completely obstinate you get nothing. Of course, don’t expect a change of tune from the GOP, which seems ready to impeach Obama for his recess appointments yesterday.
Even without GOP support and even in the face of a completely incompetent Congress, Obama isn’t likely to give up because, as he said himself, “I’m just that stubborn.”
