Is Obama "Going Public?"

The weekend blitz by President Obama can be seen as engaging in a strategy detailed by political scientist Samuel Kernell in his book Going Public: New Strategies In Presidential Leadership.  First published in 1986, Kernell argues that presidents "go public" to expand the scope of political conflict to include the general population, who then exert overt or implicit pressure on members of Congress to go along with presidential initiatives.  In this view, the president must do this on every issue, since the stability of party is not a given.

Although there are some elements of Kernell's theory here, I doubt that this is what Obama is doing.  Instead, I think that Obama is focused on using this public blitz to appeal to the opinion elite, not the masses.  Do not have time now to explain this, but I will, if I don't forget to make another entry soon...