Anonymous wonders where my post on Obama's press conference is. Here goes.
Since I like to tailor comments to class subject matter, I'll consider it in terms of checks and balances. We just witnessed the executive going public. If successful, it gives him leverage against Congress.
Going public is an extra constitutional strategy where the executive effectively attempts to go over the heads of Congress and take his case directly to the American people. This may include a plea for the public to contact members of Congress and ask them to go back the president's agenda. If the president is more popular than Congress, this can be an effective strategy since a comparatively less popular member of Congress will not want to be seen as not supporting a more popular president.
Its a strategy made more effective by modern communication techniques which give the single headed -- and voiced -- executive a rhetorical advantage over the multi headed legislature, to say nothing of the silent judiciary.
Reagan is considered the master of this strategy. He often used unusual techniques like granting interviews to local news stations in order to focus pressure on congressmen from that area. A similar strategy is the permanent campaign, a term meaning that after the campaign for the office was over, campaigning continued but focused on the passage of legislation.
At this moment, Obama's numbers are better than the Republicans. He may be able to successfully rally public opinion behind him -- he's more than halfway there of course. But that remains to be seen.
