For Obama, a Change of Allies
In many ways, President Obama is really a moderate republican. He said it himself. He was correct.
To succeed over two terms, American presidents must keep finding new sources of political energy. Which is why the top House Republican has replaced the top House Democrat as President Obama’s foremost legislative ally.
That jarring turnabout became clear in last week’s defeat of White House-backed trade legislation, and in the reaction from all sides to it. Mr. Obama is plotting new strategies with John A. Boehner, a Republican and the House of Representatives speaker, who has thwarted him for four years. And Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader in the House who is trying to lead Democrats back to power, has coolly established her distance.
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In his seventh year in office, Mr. Obama never has to face voters again. But House Democrats do. Confronted with the anger of allies who are crucial to withstanding primary or general election challenges, they are unwilling to accept the president’s assurances that the Trans-Pacific Partnership would help middle-class Americans.
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That is how Mr. Boehner, who rarely pauses from accusing the president of fecklessness, has become the decisive influence in Mr. Obama’s last major economic initiative, and the linchpin of his foreign policy “pivot” to Asia. The White House remains optimistic.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/us/politics/for-obama-a-change-of-allies.html?_r=0