Obama strategy: Attack Congress, appeal to voters CAMPAIGN 2012

President Barack Obama rides in his motorcade from his rental vacation home in Kailua, Hawaii, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. The President and his family were going to spend the afternoon at the nearby Pyramid Rock Beach at Marine Base Hawaii in Kaneohe. less President Barack Obama rides in his motorcade from his rental vacation home in Kailua, Hawaii, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. The President and his family were going to spend the afternoon at the nearby Pyramid Rock ... more Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Obama strategy: Attack Congress, appeal to voters 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Honolulu --

President Obama has a New Year's resolution that will shape his re-election strategy at the dawn of 2012: Keep beating up on an unpopular Congress.

If that approach sounds much like the way the president ended 2011, with a barnstorming tour and speeches evoking populist themes, that's because the White House believes it hit upon a winning formula toward the end of a bruising, politically damaging year.

After taking his lumps during the summer's bitter debt-ceiling debacle, Obama switched tactics, eschewing an "inside game" based on direct negotiations with Capitol Hill Republicans, for an "outside game" focused on harnessing public opinion. It culminated two weeks ago when House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio gave in under enormous public pressure and agreed to an Obama-backed, two-month extension of the payroll tax cut.

As he enters his re-election campaign year, Obama intends to press the message that he is fighting for the middle class against a Congress beholden to special interests, administration aides said.

Obama's decision to exploit his bitter divisions with Capitol Hill Republicans signals a significant shift from his 2008 campaign promise to soften the tone of debate in Washington and bridge the partisan divide.

It also means his legislative agenda could grind to a near halt. White House aides said Obama is willing to work with Congress if lawmakers refrain from "partisan attacks," but said that after a February fight to extend the payroll tax holiday through the end of the year, the president will not engage in any more high-stakes showdowns to advance his policies before the election.

"In terms of the president's relationship with Congress in 2012 ... the president is no longer tied to Washington," deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said in Hawaii, where Obama is spending a 10-day vacation that ends Monday.

White House aides say that if Obama is not forced to engage Congress in regular partisan brinksmanship, the president will have a "larger playing field" to articulate a broader agenda for the nation as he heads into the election.

The strategy carries an inherent danger for the president, who risks being viewed as giving up on the legislative process in favor of politics long before Election Day.

And with unemployment still above 8 percent, Obama cannot afford to look as if he is out of big ideas. The White House is planning to roll out more in its series of "we can't wait" small-scale economic initiatives that do not require congressional approval, but those might not be enough to convince voters that the president is doing everything he can to improve the economy.

"Perhaps the president is satisfied with the state of our economy, but Americans expect their elected leaders to work together to boost job creation, even in an election year," said Boehner's spokesman, Brendan Buck. "Divided government can be challenging, but that's no excuse for him to put his presidency on autopilot when so many Americans are looking for work."