WASHINGTON (AP) – Amid appeals for bipartisanship, President Barack Obama in just three days has provoked Republicans on issues as disparate as immigration, Wall Street and the Keystone XL pipeline – a combative mix of defense and offense that underscores Washington’s political realignment.
Sensing a Republican retreat, Obama is headlining a Miami town hall on Wednesday, enlisting his Latino base of support to increase pressure on GOP lawmakers who want to tie spending on the Homeland Security Department to repeal of his immigration executive actions.
On Tuesday, he vetoed GOP legislation that would have forced construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. And on Monday he proposed tougher rules on financial brokers who help manage retirement accounts, over Wall Street objections.
Three days, three hardball plays.
Such aggressive activism delights his supporters but irritates the Republicans who now control both chambers of Congress.