The president's recent actions have made House Democrats feel more welcome. Obama and liberals hug it out

President Barack Obama hasn’t unified and engaged Democrats this much since election night 2008.

For all the Democratic priorities Obama’s addressed in office, he’s often left his base disappointed and frustrated that he didn’t go further or fight Republicans more. But Obama and Democrats now have landed on a fundamental human truth: There’s nothing like a common enemy to bring everyone on your side together. And there’s nothing like whipping them up to get them all behind you in the fight.


And so he synchronized his base play Wednesday: nominating liberal favorite Janet Yellen as the new Federal Reserve chairwoman and putting the House Democrats first on the invitation list to meet with him at the White House.

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That’s been the approach the White House has taken all week. Obama hasn’t put Vice President Joe Biden in the room to strike another deal that many core Democrats will complain about. He hasn’t shied away from reaching out to his base, from noting that a reporter from The Huffington Post made an “important point” at his press conference Tuesday to sending his chief of staff that afternoon to meet with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi but not Republicans.

Announcing a new Fed head during a financial crisis has its own benefits for a president who wants to look like the sober steward of the economy. Picking one who became a cause for many liberals — if only, for some, in contrast to the reviled Larry Summers — is another chance for the president to show he’s listening to and connecting with them, even if that meant effectively dictating the choice. That she would be the first woman on the job helps, too.

Most people, of course, don’t know or care who the Fed chief is — if they even know what the Federal Reserve is or does. But to core Democrats and especially those on the Hill, Obama’s choice matters, as does the deference of reaching out to them over the past few weeks.

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That probably won’t reset the relationship forever, but for now, Democrats are enjoying a new unity with the president.

“Oh, absolutely. Yeah,” said Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow. She added, “And by the way, the new nominee for Fed chair — everyone’s thrilled about [her], including me. It’s wonderful.”

Earlier in the day, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) led a group of five of his Democratic colleagues in pointing out the shutdown’s impact on veterans. Between citing statistics and bemoaning the situation, all of them used words that have become very familiar from the president’s mouth: “hostage,” “lurching from crisis to crisis” and calling on Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to hold a vote.

Democrats on the Hill haven’t changed their views or their approach to suit the president, Sanders said.

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“Maybe,” Sanders said, “the president is more in sync with us.”

“I think there’s unity. I wouldn’t want to compare it to the past,” Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin said, a smile creeping across his face. “But there’s clearly unity now.”

Like the president’s refusal to bend to the House GOP demands to defund Obamacare, this is all less of a proactive plan out of the White House than Obama taking advantage of a situation that’s presented itself, allowing them to connect with the base in a way that’s usually possible only in the context of an election.

“Everyone who’s paying attention knows that a solution to this stalemate will require Democratic votes in the House,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. “That’s why the president is working closely and consulting frequently with Democrats to keep them unified throughout this process.”

Politically, things came together all at once in a way political strategists usually only dream about: a base priority kicking into action (Obamacare going live); the other side doing something deeply unpopular (House Republicans triggering a government shutdown); and the president, in a way that the base has constantly complained he doesn’t, holding firm.

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The day of the shutdown deadline, the Democratic National Committee hit its single biggest online fundraising day since before the election, raising $850,000. That’s continued at such a brisk pace that only nine days in it’s already expecting October to be the best small donation fundraising month in years.

DNC communications director Mo Elleithee credits the president for leading “a level of engagement that we haven’t seen for a long time.”

The response among independents has only helped. With those numbers showing just as much unhappiness with the Republicans, moderate Democrats like Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Kay Hagan of North Carolina — even though they’re up for reelection next year — haven’t had to bolt, prompting the inevitable problems of a party divided and forcing the president to tack to the middle. Democrats see the current crisis as driving a wedge between Republicans and the mainstream in a way that hasn’t happened since the fight over providing women’s contraception.

“Like Democrats, independents are strongly unified behind the president and his efforts to end the Republican shutdown government. You don’t earn their support by throwing red meat to the partisans,” Earnest said. “The president has engaged independents in this debate and put pressure on Republicans by making it clear that he’s putting the economic interests of the country first — ahead of everything else.”

But liberals downplayed the idea that the president has suddenly been catering to them in how he’s approached the shutdown.

“It’s such a clear choice,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “We’re unified because it’s clear that we have a responsibility, not liberal or conservative, to open the government and pay our bills.”

“This is not a question of liberal or anything else. This is about respecting the Democratic process. And I feel very strongly about it, and I hope and believe the president does, as well,” Sanders said.

Still, Brown said the Yellen pick has been received well. “People are happy with that,” he said, not making eye contact with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, leader of the GOP opposition to Obama, who stood with him in the elevator. “I think it was important,” Brown added.

The satisfaction core Democrats feel with what the president’s done so far, though, only goes so far.

The Republican position of refusing to fund the government or raise the debt limit without major concessions is “something that you haven’t seen before, and the president’s responding as he has to, and I think people on our side recognize that,” said Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), who’s often criticized Obama for not going far enough toward liberal goals.

A final deal is likely to fund the government at sequester cut levels, and Grayson said that’s far from a victory or something that will significantly change the overall liberal disenchantment that Obama’s built up over the past five years.

“I don’t think that people on my side feel like getting up and cheering, but on the other hand,” Grayson said, “we’re pleased that the president is not capitulating and not making things worse.”

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