Calling for Cooperation, Obama Engages in Confrontation
Amid appeals for bipartisanship, President Barack Obama in just three days has provoked Republicans on issues as disparate as immigration, Wall Street and the Keystone XL pipeline a combative mix of defense and offense that underscores Washington's political realignment.
Sensing a Republican retreat, Obama was headlining a Miami town hall on Wednesday, enlisting his Latino base of support to increase pressure on GOP lawmakers who want to tie spending on the Homeland Security Department to repeal of his immigration executive actions.
On Tuesday, he vetoed GOP legislation that would have forced construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. And on Monday he proposed tougher rules on financial brokers who help manage retirement accounts, over Wall Street objections.
Three days, three hardball plays.
Such aggressive activism delights his supporters but irritates the Republicans who now control both chambers of Congress.
It's not as if Republicans didn't see it coming. But it unfolds as Obama insists he is willing to find common ground with GOP leaders on such issues as trade and fixes to the criminal justice system.
Indeed, Obama on Tuesday summoned a bipartisan group of lawmakers to the White House for a private meeting on how to address modernizing juvenile justice, sentencing and incarceration policies. And on Thursday, Obama planned to draw attention to the economic benefits of trade and exports in a series of interviews at the White House.
"Let's try to focus on some of things that we have in common and deliver real results," he told governors of both parties who attended a White House luncheon Monday.
But can the confrontational Obama exist alongside Obama the accommodator?
Among those attending the criminal justice session at the White House were Republicans who have been among the most vocal critics of Obama on other issues, such as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a potential presidential candidate, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Reps. Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Trey Gowdy of South Carolina.
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Calling for Cooperation, Obama Engages in Confrontation