The President is continuing his strategy of talking directly to the American people to make his case for key policies. He has done this on gun control, the economy and most recently on Friday on the so-called "sequester". This is a smart move but it carries risk.
He is of course a wonderful communicator and being able to get his message across to the people without it being filtered by the news networks and his opponents in Congress has merit. The downside comes when his actions do not match his fine words. The longer it goes with the President not delivering his agenda- frustrated by Congress- the more he becomes the lame duck that all second term Presidents fear. Every time he goes on TV to outmanoeuvre the Republicans, he makes it less likely he can deliver a deal with them. His approach is producing improved poll ratings but so far no big breakthroughs. If he wants policy as well as political success he must not over-play his hand.
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