Obama Pressed on Cabinet, Policy

Nov. 19, 2008— -- President-elect Barack Obama won the election with the proud and aggressive backing of a diverse array of interest groups -- many of them starved for influence during the eight years the Democrats have been out of power.

Now all he has to do is keep them all happy.

Obama's transition team has been inundated with a flurry of public and private advice on Cabinet appointments, legislative strategy and policy initiatives. Much of the input is coming from organizations that believe they contributed substantially to Obama's election, and they're counting on him to make good on his promises.

"You have to seize on these opportunities in history to do something big," said Jacki Schechner, national communications director for Health Care for America Now.

On Tuesday, the health care advocacy group launched a TV advertising campaign prodding the incoming administration and the new Congress to act on health care, even though Obama won't be inaugurated for two months.

"I'd like to think we're on the right track, but it doesn't hurt to poke a little and say, 'Hey, remember, we're here,'" Schechner said. "We can't wait any longer."

Many of the groups -- including those pushing health care expansions -- are asking Obama to deliver on campaign promises that he and his aides say he's intent on keeping.

But the unsolicited and sometimes conflicting advice represents an early leadership challenge to Obama, who is deep in the process of selecting his own team and settling on an initial legislative strategy at a time when the economy seems likely to subsume all other issues.

Obama also faces an additional challenge: He ran on a platform of independence from Washington interest groups and doesn't want to be seen as too beholden to any organizations.

The way he manages relationships with interest groups may be key to his success in Washington as he seeks to bring a new tone of bipartisan cooperation to enact an ambitious agenda.

"When you haven't controlled the administration for eight years, there's a lot of pent-up demand," said Allan Cigler, a political science professor at the University of Kansas who specializes in interest-group politics.

"There's going to be a heck of a lot of pressure," he said. "The operating word for Obama is going to be: Patience. Change is coming -- but hold on."