Scaling Back

Obama to Try Piecemeal Approach

After expected midterm setbacks.

Rahm may be gone but his strategy remains: President Obama will probably scale back his legislative ambitions following the midterm elections, when his party is likely to hold a smaller majority in Congress, or no majority at all. White House advisers are working on a more incremental strategy, one that was championed by newly departed chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, and one that will probably work better in the Senate. Emanuel’s replacement, Peter Rouse, has a keen understanding of the workings of the Senate as the former chief of staff of former Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and perhaps will be better able to push through piecemeal measures on issues like closing Guantanamo Bay’s detention center. Obama hopes to repair his relationship with the left, which distrusted Emanuel, even as he’ll have to work more closely with Republicans to fill his 2008 campaign promises.