Flooding the Zone

First Read: “Exactly one week away from President Obama’s State of the Union address, the White House has spent the early days of the second term flooding the zone with its legislative agenda… What’s going on here: The Obama White House wants to overload Washington’s political circuits in an effort to see what it can get through Congress — without letting Congress define what issues get addressed. After all, Republicans want to solely talk about the budget before the March budget showdown…. Yet by flooding the zone, Team Obama — with the bully pulpit and the State of the Union at its disposal — wants to widen the political dialogue beyond that one issue.”

“This ‘flooding the zone’ concept is how the Obama White House operated in the first six months of the first term, and it’s where he got most of his legislative achievements. When the White House got bogged down on ONE issue (health care, debt ceiling, etc), officials determined they lost some of their political capital.”