The Perpetual Campaign

Let's call it what it is--a perpetual campaign. I know, I know, Obama said specifically in his State of the Union speech that that's not what should be going on in Washington, but it is. It's naïve and pie-in-the-sky to think otherwise. The Republicans have figured it out and with a vengeance. How else to you account for the solid opposition to health care reform and just about every other big ticket item Obama and the Democrats might propose? They are in campaign mode against Obama, and it's working.

It's a shame that the Democrats once again seem to be playing it too nice. The presidency has now become an extension of the presidential campaign. By this I mean that once elected, Obama or any other president will be forced to go out and campaign for what he or she wants, much as he or she had to do to get elected. It's not enough to simply sit in the White House and preside; you've to to go out and push.

So Obama will have to go the country, just like he did in the primaries and general election, and fight for what he wants. He's great on the stump, but he's lost some of that fire since he entered the White House. He's got to get it back, and that means going out and fighting for what he wants, even if only rhetorically. That's what he did so effectively and it got him elected president. Now that he's president he's got to do it to get what he wants. He may not get everything, but he will be much better off if he is seen as fighting for it. In short, the campaign continues even though he's already been elected.