WASHINGTON — Regrouping after a feud with Congress stalled his agenda, President Barack Obama is laying down a three-item to-do list for Congress that seems meager when compared with the bold, progressive agenda he envisioned at the start of his second term.
But given the capital’s partisanship, the complexities of the issues and the limited time left, even those items — immigration, farm legislation and a budget — amount to ambitious goals that will take political muscle, skill and ever-elusive compromise to execute.
“Those are three specific things that would make a huge difference in our economy right now,” Obama said. “And we could get them done by the end of the year if our focus is on what’s good for the American people.”
Still, the scaled-back vision for what might be feasible in the short term could be disappointing for Obama’s liberal supporters, who have been looking expectantly to the president to enact as much of his agenda as possible before Washington is consumed next year by midterm elections and the end of Obama’s presidency draws nearer.
Source: TBO