Obama's tactics aimed at reassuring his supporters, not GOP

WASHINGTON — Campaigns are generous forums. They allow politicians to make claims difficult to refute. Only the most coldhearted could oppose more hope, change and bipartisanship.

Great. Where do I sign up? President Barack Obama thrived in that environment during the 2008 election. His electoral promises thrilled, energized and inspired millions of Americans, and opened the doors to the White House.

But governing is less charitable. In fact, it's brutal and messy. It requires trade-offs, hard decisions, picking winners and losers. This is the predictable lesson of Obama's first few weeks in office.

Facing his first governing challenge — passing a large spending stimulus bill — the new president hit some turbulence after takeoff. The bill won no Republican support in the House, and the Senate balked at the House version and changed it. Now the two chambers have hammered out a delicate compromise — mostly among members of the president's party.

With the prospects for broad bipartisan agreement a thing of the past, Obama fell back into campaign mode to meet these new realities. Last week he met with House Democrats and excited them with rip-roaring, campaign-style oratory. This week he continued the road show with stops in Indiana and Florida, warning of "catastrophe" without immediate action. He also did a prime-time press conference aimed at winning public support.

The shift in tone and tactics — from talk of compromise and conciliation with Republicans to "going directly to the American people" — is noticeable. But the real audience is different than you think. While some in the media like CNN's David Gergen think he's talking to the country, his real mission is to fire up partisans.

Going "over the heads of Congress" is a well-worn tactic in presidential politics. Political scientists such as George C. Edwards, however, have questioned the efficacy of this approach. In his book, "On Deaf Ears: The Limits of the Bully Pulpit," Edwards demonstrates that while presidents have a strong incentive to seek public support for their policies, they usually fall short in moving the numbers. Many factors, including a public with limited attention, fragmentation of media viewership, the counter-mobilization of the opposition, and that "going public" means framing issues in stark terms (making compromise difficult), all contribute to limiting the effectiveness of the strategy.