By JOHN P. CASTONGUAY
COLUMNIST
In his recent actions regarding his fiscal proposals, President Obama seems to be doing his best to prove his critics right: He is acting like a celebrity rather than the President. Instead of working with Republican members of Congress, who will be responsible for editing, debating and possibly passing his plan, President Obama is engaging in a campaign-style strategy to advertise his plan to the public and a few hand-selected small business owners. These include Nikhil Arora, the co-founder of Back to the Roots, David Bolotsky, the chief executive officer of Uncommon Goods and Mandy Cabot, the co-founder of Dansko.
In a speech in September, Obama remarked, “Most important is you can’t change Washington from inside, only from the outside. That’s how some of our biggest accomplishments like health care got done — mobilizing the American people.” This statement seems innocuous on the surface, but as an approach to governing, it is ineffective and irresponsible. As president of the United States, President Obama is constitutionally obligated to respect the powers of the other branches and the authority they have to pass legislation. Instead of engaging with Congress as it returns to Washington this week, however, he is holding rallies in areas such as Montgomery County, Penn, that were battleground territories during the election. One event in Hatfield, PA is going to be held at a toymaker, where Obama will reportedly argue that if Republicans do not pass his tax plan, Christmas sales will drop and the economy will go off a “fiscal cliff.” This type of melodramatic stunt would have been somewhat understandable on the campaign trail, but for a president who claims to be attempting to seek bipartisan support, it is simply inappropriate.
For those of us who had hoped that the end of the election would bring an end to the empty but aggressive rhetoric and allow our politicians to return to the job of actually running the country, the foreseeable future will be extremely disappointing. For President Obama, the campaigning does not stop, as former campaign volunteers are being encouraged to refocus their efforts on gaining support for Obama’s fiscal plan.
Republicans, while criticizing Obama for his failure to focus on active governance, are no better. The Speaker of the House, John Boehner, announced that the Republicans will also be traveling to visit small businesses and host rallies to proclaim “the threat to jobs posed by congressional Democrats’ small business tax hike.”
Both President Obama and the Republican House display a lack of understanding of the republican aspect of our government. While the public votes to select representatives, it is the responsibility of the representatives, not the people directly, to determine policies. The Republicans and President Obama are ignoring their obligations and failing the public who elected them to govern, not to campaign endlessly.
