Obama seeking to exploit Republican divides in second term
The failure of his first-term emphasis on bipartisanship has made Obama more determined to challenge the Republican opposition
In US President Barack Obama's first term, a promise of bipartisanship withered on stony ground; as his second begins, he has openly embraced confrontation.
On a parade of hot-button political issues, including the budget, gun control and immigration, Obama has begun to hammer on weak points in the Republican coalition.
He has made little effort to woo members of the opposition in Congress, whose positions he has characterised publicly as "intransigent," "extreme" and "absurd." Instead, he appears intent on dividing them.
That approach has unified Democrats, who remain staunchly supportive of the president, while exacerbating splits in Republican ranks, according to polls. While the strategy involves considerable risk, Obama and his aides seem convinced it offers their best hope of winning major legislative victories in an era of deep partisan divisions in Washington and the wider electorate.
The administration wants to "stay away from inside-the-Beltway, elite negotiations and try to pursue an outside-in-strategy, where the president seeks to mobilise public opinion and put pressure on a minority of Republicans," said William Galston of the Brookings Institution, a public policy think tank. The idea, he said, is to find weak spots in the GOP coalition, "stick a wedge into the crack and wiggle it back and forth until it breaks".
During the first term, Obama and his aides engaged in lengthy negotiations and offered concessions aimed at winning a handful of Republican votes during battles over health care and the economic stimulus.