What Tools Does Obama Have Left?

As long as he controls the votes of 34 senators, he can do as he pleases.

He just doen't please to do so.

He is perfectly happy to break the law when it suits him,

You're right to say let's forget about what Obama could do if he were a leader, and concentrate instead on what he could do with the exercise of the power already granted to him by the Constitution.

But that uncovers an immediate problem. Where he is able to act according to his own beliefs and values, without the constraints of Congress or of public opinion, his actions speak louder than any words. 

• Obama is hell on whistleblowers
• He loves war to the point that he makes new ones rather than getting out of old ones
• He rewards the people who caused our economic mess and lets HAMP languish
• He arrests US citizens and holds them indefinitely without charge
• He lets corporate criminals prosper and throws marijuana smokers in jail…

And the list goes on.

Your post presumes that he would like to "do better" if only he could. There are many things he could do (and stop doing) to make things better - read Krugman, Bernstein, deLong, Baker and others. 

But Doc, what if he thinks he's already doing just right?

Jeez, doctor, I was hoping you'd offer some answers.

OK, one power that remains totally in his hands is commander-in-chief. Job 1: Fire Panetta the next time he opens his mouth. Show folks the president is really serious about winding down the wars that nobody except the military brass has any taste for any more.

The status-of-forces deal with Iraq states that all U.S. troops will leave by Dec. 31. But Panetta has picked up right where Gates left off -- pressuring the Iraqis to "request" an extension for 20,000 or so troops. The Iraqi people hate that idea, as do a majority of Americans. But politicians (and the military lobbyists who fund them) are warming to it. Obama should declare which side he's on.

We know which side Panetta is on, after he declared the cut proposed under the debt-ceiling trigger (up to $50 billion a year) could cripple the military. Out of a 2012 budget of $700 billion to $1 trillion, depending on what you count in. That's maybe six per cent -- but at a time when three major military operations are being wound down!

On second thought, Obama, don't even wait for Panetta to open his mouth again. Fire him now. 

Okay, for you, ac, I'll try to give it a start:

1. Use Justice to clean up Wall Street. Instruct Holder that because Congress won't act, it's on him to make the public believe that Wall Street has gotten what it wants. There isn't time for a major trial before the election, but there should be high-profile investigations of major financial institutions that have not abided by the law, and especially of those who continue to play fast and loose. Institutions that took bailout money should get special attention.

While Obama is at it, he should instruct the SEC and the IRS to become much, much more aggressive. Republicans will howl, but how much more could they obstruct things. And the public will cheer.

2. Mass recess appointments. Obama could signal his new hard-ball attitude, and begin getting Congress back in line, by appointing *all* of the hundreds of appointees who are being held up, starting with everyone in Treasury, Commerce, the SEC, and the IRS. The Congress has fallen down on its job, the people's business is not getting done in a time of crisis, and the Constitution gives Obama this specific power for more or less exactly this reason.

Congress will be enraged, but get over it. And instead of dickering with them over this or that nomination, and how upset they'll be if Obama uses a recess appointment in a specific case, Obama should just turn it into wholesale recess appointments. Yes, those appointments expire at the end of the next Congressional session, but if Congress doesn't clear a replacement, Obama can just make another set of recess appointments that the Republicans will like even less.

3. Use HAMP for real. The one big tool that Obama has left to deal with the Not-as-Great Depression is the one he's been reluctant to use: HAMP. But he doesn't have much else left, so he should use whatever's left in the bag. And Hamp is authorized through the end of 2012. He should shoot for at least 4 million modified mortgages, to keep people in their homes. It's the right thing to do for the economy and for those homeowners.

Other thoughts?

Perhaps Obama should try painting the town red? He needs to take a devil-may-care attitude because the GOPer's aren't showing much interest in his attempts at bipartisianship.

Then again, his term has been marked without a stated goal to achieve by his administration, Congress or the public ...  no challenge. For instance, he could have made a Kennedy proclamation that within 10 years the public would enjoy socialized medical coverage and challenge Congress to make it happen. Kennedy never made it to the end of his first term, but his vision of landing a man on the moon came to fruition before the decade was out. Americans love a challenge that borders on the impossible. He's failed to deliver us the impossible dream to achieve.

Not something the White House can do.  But if the Justice Department, in the course of its monitoring/investigations of possible wrongdoing on Wall Street, should come upon evidence justifying prosecution of a bigwig, and initiates such an action, most of the public will probably think Obama was behind it and credit him.   Or at least credit him for appointing an Attorney General willing to hold bad guys on Wall Street accountable.  

He could appoint Cordray to the CFPC via a recess appointment.

He could persuade Reid to introduce a major jobs bill in the Senate, paid for with partial repeal of the Bush tax cuts, make the Republicans prevent an up or down vote, and make a big thing about it as an issue that clearly separates the two major parties.    

He could use some of that vast reservoir of campaign cash he's been bringing in to hire a snappy PR firm to produce and begin airing a commercial spot showing people who kept, or got, jobs on account of his and Congress' stimulus initiatives.  And begin to build the case for doing more of that as one of his key campaign proposals, noting that he would need a Congress supportive of passing such legislation and asking voters to give him one.  

He could ask the relevant agency or agencies to recommend a list of specific actions citizens and businesses can take to voluntarily reduce carbon emissions.  Maybe create some website where individuals and businesses who can show they took one of these voluntary steps can register and get sent a creatively designed, attractive "saving our planet" sticker or seal to post prominently at their place of residence of business or on their bike or motor vehicle.  And connect that with going back to making the case for carbon emissions legislation and/or renewed tax credits for homeowners doing the right things, to create financial incentives to fast forward the carbon emissions reduction process we need to move on.

He might try telling the truth - about the world, about America, about Republicans, about who owns and runs America.  Who knows?  Truth.  It's worth a shot.

I'll comment at 1am Wednesday when we know who won in Wisconsin.

Meanwhile here's  Brad Delong's suggestion

(Make) personnel changes  to put qualified people who saw the world as it was in the summer of 2009 into the key economic jobs

o Laura Tyson or someone like her to Treasury Secretary (recess appointment, acting ,whatever)

o Larry Summers or someone like him to Fed Chair (recess appointment,acting ,whatever)

o Alan Blinder or someone like him to CEA Chair (recess appointment etc.etc)

o Christy Romer or someone like her to Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

Obama could offer the Republicans their cherished repatriation tax holiday in exchange for an extension of the payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance, and 100 billion in funds for Jared Bernstein's FAST proposal (fixing, retrofitting public schools).

It's a compromise that is hard to swallow, since the repatriation holiday is going to hurt revenue long-term, but it is probably the only thing that will bring the GOP to the table. And it is the only thing that will help avoid another painful recession.

Good question, Doc, but I think that you're running down the wrong path.

It's August 2011. The election is just over a year away. The Republican primaries will begin in a few months. Even a president with a sterner backbone and a less dysfunctional congress wouldn't get much done at this point.

Obama will employ the tools at his disposal to try to get re-elected and to try to get a few more Democrats elected.

And that's where the bully pulpit comes in. It's not about weekly radio addresses. It's about giving people a reason to vote for him and for other Democrats.

My original comment went on to address the reason, but I decided to turn it into a post: http://dagblog.com/politics/why-should-you-vote-obama-11272