Mr. Obama is taking a gamble in outsourcing the drafting of his agenda’s details to these five veteran lawmakers and others in Congress, each with his own political and parochial calculations.It's not exactly as if Mr. Obama has a choice. The President can't author legislation. Congress does that. He could send a more detailed list of demands, but he still wouldn't be drafting the details. He'd be trying to convince the committee chairs of which details to draft. But we also learn:
The apparent first casualty is a big one: a proposal to limit tax deductions for the wealthiest 1.2 percent of taxpayers. Mr. Obama says the plan would produce $318 billion over the next decade as a down payment for overhauling health care.But the chairmen of the House and Senate tax-writing committees, Senator Max Baucus of Montana and Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York, have objected to the proposal, citing a potential drop in tax-deductible gifts to charities.
But this manifestly isn't an example of Obama "outsourcing" his details to Congress. Here, Obama drafted the detail: A very specific change in the itemization rules for the wealthy. And Congress, which gets to decide whether the detail will or will not enter the final legislation, is expressing skepticism. Which is, of course, how our system works. There's no gamble here nor an odd political calculation. Obama simply cannot decide what goes into legislation. He can only ask Congress to follow his wishes.
