2d term, new challenges

WASHINGTON - Five months after his resounding reelection win, President Obama is bumping up against the boundaries of his political power in Washington as the core of his second-term legislative agenda moves into a still-divided Congress.

His ability to secure the three high-profile legislative items now confronting Congress - gun control measures, immigration reform, and his long-term budget priorities - will likely determine his domestic legacy. Obama's plan now is to ensure that as much of his politically challenging agenda as possible is enacted, after months of effort to frame the policies for the American public and, perhaps more importantly, for the House and Senate.

Each of the issues Obama is pursuing is being managed independently by the second-term White House team - an improvisational strategy that is testing the president's ability to calibrate when to get involved and when to stay out of the way.

But senior administration officials acknowledge that only immigration legislation has a chance at resembling Obama's ideal bill once it emerges from the Democratic-run Senate and the GOP-controlled House.

On his other major initiatives, however, Obama would settle for less than he says he wants, a sign that he remains pragmatic in the face of partisan opposition that continues to limit his ambitions.

Obama outlined a broad progressive agenda in his second inaugural address, and he has spoken frequently about the validation that he believes the public gave his plans by reelecting him last year. But second-term presidents traditionally have less than two years to secure a legislative agenda before lame-duck status sets in, and Obama already has seen his popular support shrink in recent months.

The election also did not change the basic political dynamic in Washington: a Democratic president in conflict with congressional Republicans, only some of whom believe last year's election served as a call for compromise.

After months of campaigning for his agenda, two of his priorities appear to be inching through the Democratic-controlled Senate: a compromise on gun-purchase background checks was announced last week and another deal is expected this week on immigration.

But the budget he announced, which proposed restricting cost-of-living increases to Social Security, appears to have angered his own supporters more than it has convinced Republicans. It is an issue on which his strongest political leverage lies in going against his own party.

I think they put something on the table which no Democrat should ever put on the table," said Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "It's not OK to be bargained with. The risk is that voters mistakenly identify his budget priorities with all of ours."

After outlining what he wants in an immigration bill, Obama has largely taken a hands-off approach to designing the legislation, now the subject of negotiations among a bipartisan group of senators known as the "Gang of Eight."

The strategy was adopted soon after his inauguration, when Obama, eager to push the issue after winning more than 70 percent of the Latino vote, prepared to introduce his own bill during a visit to Las Vegas to break a long-standing deadlock among Senate negotiators.

Administration officials said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D., N.Y.), a Gang of Eight member, called the White House a few days before the Jan. 29 event. Schumer said the group was close to reaching consensus on a bill, and asked Obama to hold off on announcing his own for fear of disrupting the talks.

Obama agreed.

"On any issue where there is progress being made, we don't want to get in the way," said a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the White House legislative strategy and assess its prospects. "Every one of these issues has potential pitfalls and potential opportunities."

Obama has employed an outside-the-Beltway strategy on guns, traveling to the sites of mass shootings to implore Congress to take action. A large majority of the public supports tighter restrictions, but many in Congress would rather not confront the powerful gun-rights lobby.

Yet it has become increasingly clear to the administration that most of the ambitious ideas don't have enough support to pass Congress. Obama is now trying to strike a balance between when to pressure lawmakers and when to accept a compromise, even if it is far more modest than he originally envisioned.