President Obama’s legacy is on the line as he faces a GOP Congress in his last two years, and top Republicans are urging him to secure it by working with them even if it means giving in on a few of his cherished positions.
“To do that he’s going to have to spend some time working with Republicans as well as Democrats in Congress and adopting views that he doesn’t agree with,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which covers many of the president’s top initiatives, including Obamacare and education.
A big complaint, even from Democrats, is that the White House doesn’t coordinate well with Congress, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are telling Obama he needs to change his approach 180 degrees.
Alexander said the president told him that he is eager to work on key issues with the GOP, including drug development and education. But it’s the follow through Alexander’s waiting for.
In an interview with Secrets, Alexander suggested the president give his Cabinet more leeway. “He’s had some Cabinet members who do a good job of staying in touch with Congress, but their good work seems to disappear someplace into the White House sometimes,” he said. “If the White House would give his Cabinet members more latitude in dealing with Congress on important issues, they could help the president achieve some results and give him a legacy that will have some bipartisanship to it. His legacy right now is highly partisan.”
In the end, said Alexander, it is up to Obama. “It will take a different attitude than we’ve seen in the last six years,” he said. “That’s the way you get lasting results, get bipartisan agreement. The rest of Congress and rest of the country says, ‘Well, when they all agree with it, maybe I’ll accept it, too,’ I think we have a chance to do that.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
