Obama, Republicans Are Just Not Into You; Advice: Forget About Them

That’s what Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post suggests (h/t Plum Line).

For what it’s worth, my advice for Obama is to forget the Republicans. Not literally, of course – the new House leadership is going to make itself hard to ignore. But ultimately, it’s the president who sets the agenda and who ultimately is held accountable for America’s successes and failures. Obama’s focus should be on using all the tools at his disposal to move the country in the direction he believes it must go.

John Podesta of the Center for American Progress argues in a report that George W. Bush used everything at his disposal to craft his own agenda in spite of a divided Congress.

Presidents can issue executive orders, the report notes. They can use their rulemaking powers, working through federal agencies that already have broad mandates under law. They can forge public-private partnerships. They can shape world events through diplomacy and command of the armed forces.

George W. Bush started wars and approved state-sponsored torture and wasn’t bothered about what any other branch of government thought about it.

• Obama has the power to help jump-start the real estate market by issuing orders that could speed the untangling of the foreclosure mess – and also begin to move the vast inventory of foreclosed properties that weighs so heavily on home prices.
• He can shape the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the implementation of health-care reform in ways that will produce the quickest and greatest benefits for working families, the report notes.

Robinson correctly states that Obama is now the decider.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.