Obama recognized that the divided Congress may not fall in line behind all his priorities, specifically mentioning climate change, but said he'd move forward with or without their support. "If Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will," Obama said. "I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy."
The White House is acutely aware that Obama must act fast if he wants to be a transformational leader. The president has maybe a year before electoral politics tends to accelerate the already nasty gridlock between the White House and Republican lawmakers.
That's because come next year, members of Congress will be focused on their own campaigns for the midterm election. Then attention focuses on the race to succeed Obama with the primary campaign taking shape in 2015.
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EDITOR'S NOTE — Nedra Pickler covers the White House for The Associated Press.
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Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler
An AP News Analysis
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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