Yesterday I wrote about Obama’s thus-far low profile on the unfolding Capitol Hill budget showdown, and speculated that the president might be ready to come out swinging soon. But Politico offered a glimpse today at the White House’s thinking:
Democrats like [Rep. Norm] Dicks are increasingly outspoken that Obama must get more involved, and White House chief of staff Bill Daley heard this message from Dicks and other top Democrats at a House caucus Tuesday. The perception is that Obama wants to stand back, waiting for the right moment as the father figure resolving the congressional squabbles. But some Democrats privately believe he, like Boehner, is too afraid to suggest a spending compromise for fear that he won’t be able to deliver his own top line.
Daley was described as saying that Obama didn’t want to seem “too shrill,” and the political landscape is very different from 1995, when President Bill Clinton was more aggressive in standing up to Republican spending cuts.
Some Republicans have claimed all along that the political landscape is so different from 1995, when Bill Clinton deftly outmaneuvered Newt Gingrich’s House Republicans on the budget, as to give them the upper hand. Democrats have argued that the GOP has branded itself as the party of “no,” and is scaring away moderate voters. But the Obama team seems to agree that the politics are trickier for this White House than they were for Clinton’s.
One key advantage Clinton had that Obama lacks: Newt’s big mouth.