Obama gets opportunity to show his leadership

Richard Wolf and David Jackson, USA TODAY | USATODAY

President Obama got to do something the past three days that Republican challenger Mitt Romney can't do and that Obama hasn't had much time to do in the heat of the campaign: govern.

Whether it was promising a robust federal response to Hurricane Sandy from the White House briefing room Monday, comforting victims at an American Red Cross office Tuesday or touring hard-hit areas with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday, Obama stayed above the partisan fray of a dead-heat campaign.

"This is an all-hands-on-deck approach," he said in Brigantine Beach, N.J., three tarp-covered boats behind him. "The federal government will be working as closely as possible with the state and local officials, and we will not quit until this is done."

While he was just doing his job, the chance to work with a popular Republican governor and help Americans in distress represented just one way in which the responsibilities of the office could help Obama politically.

That, aides were quick to say, wasn't the point. "It is entirely appropriate for the president to visit New Jersey and receive updates on the efforts there to recover and to view firsthand the damage inflicted by Sandy," White House press secretary Jay Carney said. "This is not a time for politics."

It helps that the commander in chief has so many assets at his command. Earlier in the day at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters, he was joined by the leaders of the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, Transportation, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development.

For the president, the perks of incumbency "have been very hard to come by this time of year," says Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian and author at Rice University in Texas. The chance to take non-partisan action "is a windfall for him."

By quickly approving disaster assistance for residents in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as emergency aid for 10 states and the District of Columbia, Obama delivered federal dollars while Romney could only urge charitable donations.

Just three of the affected states are considered to be in play in the presidential election: Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. But they're not the only ones Obama has helped during the campaign. Other swing states that have benefited from policy initiatives include:

Ohio. The White House announced $30million in federal aid in October for a "National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute" in Youngstown to promote 3-D printing technology.

Colorado. Obama signed a proclamation in September establishing Chimney Rock National Monument, helping to preserve Native American ruins and attract tourists.

Iowa. The president authorized $30 million in drought relief for farm states, as well as a series of emergency loans for struggling farmers.

Florida. The biggest swing state received a disaster declaration from the president two weeks ago for damage sustained during Hurricane Isaac in late August.

"That's just absolutely the way the game is played," says Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution think tank, a former aide to Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon. Hess calls such actions "the little tools that a president is given that he can use politically."

Obama's presidential moment could stall Romney's momentum in the final days of the campaign.

Republican political experts don't see any lasting benefit for Obama.

"It will be a campaign with a different game plan for the final week, but the impact will not be that much different, other than ending on a higher tone," says Ed Rollins, who ran President Reagan's re-election campaign in 1984.