Obama's New Campaign Weapon: His Pen

As he gets ready for the fall campaign, Barack Obama is working to win over his most important constituents one pen stroke at a time. Stymied by Republican opposition in Congress, the president has turned to the powers of his office, issuing executive orders and other actions that enable him to bypass Capitol Hill and appeal to the concerns of Democratic voters.

For environmentalists, Obama stopped the Keystone XL pipeline and raised auto fuel efficiency standards. For young people, he declared new rules to ease repayment of student loans. For Hispanics, he tweaked federal immigration policy, curtailing deportations of illegal immigrants who arrived as children and those who served in the armed forces. The president stood with women’s groups in demanding free insurance coverage for contraception. Consumer advocates won the recess appointment of a financial industry watchdog. For unions, the president filled three vacant seats on the National Labor Relations Board, restoring a quorum required for the panel to make decisions.