By JOSH LEDERMAN
President Barack Obama talks with Rebekah Erler, of Minneapolis at Matts Bar before going to a town hall meeting at Minnehaha Park, Thursday, June 26, 2014, in Minneapolis. The president is in Minneapolis for the first in a series of Day-in-the-Life visits he plans to make across the country this summer. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Jerry Holt, Pool)
Barack Obama
President Barack Obama makes his way through the crowd after he held a town hall meeting at Minnehaha Park ,Thursday, June 26, 2014, in Minneapolis. Obama said that Washington needs to stop “playing to the most fringe elements of politics” and help Americans who are fighting to make ends meet, as he spent an afternoon with a working mother who wrote to him about her struggles. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
Barack Obama
President Barack Obama greets a small child on the sidewalk outside of Matt’s Bar in Minneapolis, Thursday, June 26, 2014, after having lunch with Rebekah Erler. Obama traveled to Minnesota to begin a two-day trip, where he plans to put a human face on the economic policies he and Democrats are championing, and met with Erler, who wrote the White House about her struggles to make ends meet. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Barack Obama
President Barack Obama greets guests on the tarmac upon his arrival on Air Force One at Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport, Thursday, June 26, 2014, in St. Paul, Minn. Obama traveled to Minnesota to begin a two-day trip, where he plans to put a human face on the economic policies he and Democrats are championing, and is spending a day with a Minnesota mother who wrote the White House about her struggles to make ends meet. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Barack Obama, Rebekah Erler
President Barack Obama sits down to have lunch with Rebekah Erler at Matt’s Bar in Minneapolis, Minn., Thursday, June 26, 2014. Obama traveled to Minnesota to begin a two-day trip, where he plans to put a human face on the economic policies he and Democrats are championing, and is meeting with Erler, who wrote the White House about her struggles to make ends meet. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Barack Obama, Rebekah Erler
President Barack Obama sits down to have lunch with Rebekah Erler at Matt’s Bar in Minneapolis, Minn., Thursday, June 26, 2014. Obama traveled to Minnesota to begin a two-day trip, where he plans to put a human face on the economic policies he and Democrats are championing, and is spending a day with Erler, who wrote the White House about her struggles to make ends meet. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — With 2 1/2 years remaining, President Barack Obama has been blocked by Congress and is running out of steps he can take on his own to achieve his goals. So, the White House is trying to maximize Obama’s exposure to “real Americans,” hoping that more intimate and less scripted interactions will remind struggling citizens why they voted for him in the first place.
A poignant letter from one of those Americans prompted Obama to fly to Minnesota to spend time Thursday with Rebekah Erler, an accountant and mother of two whose tale of financial struggle made its way to Obama’s desk, one of the 10 letters from Americans that Obama reads each night.
As he joined Erler, 36, for burgers under dim neon lights advertising beer at Matt’s Bar, her quest to do right by her family despite economic headwinds animated the president’s rallying cry for Washington to pay attention to the plight of the American middle class. It’s a popular theme for Democrats in a midterm election year.
Answering questions from the community later at a Minneapolis park, Obama said it was discouraging that Americans watching the news see Washington debating issues that have little to do with their lives. It must feel like being forgotten, he said.
“It’s not like I forget,” Obama added. “You’re who I’m thinking about every single day. Just because it’s not reported in the news, I don’t want you to think that I’m not fighting for you.”
In her letter to Obama, Erler wrote about her husband’s struggles to find a reliable job, the high costs of groceries and childcare, and the burden of paying off student loans. Obama said those challenges, while pervasive, are ones the government can help address.
Obama’s aides said the visit marks the start of a “Day in the Life” tour in which Obama will visit communities across the country, putting human faces on economic policies that he and Democrats are championing. Obama spent just a short stretch of time with Erler over lunch, not unlike similar stops he’s made on many previous trips outside Washington.
Still, the tour comes as Obama is increasingly stepping “outside the bubble” of the White House, mingling with people during surprise visits to hamburger shops, coffee joints and even a Little League game. Obama’s aides say the shift is not coincidental.
“We’ve been here a long time now,” Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s senior adviser, said in an interview. “You can’t do the same things over and over again. In this cluttered media environment, it’s harder to break through.”
Yet the attempt to show Obama still relates to everyday Americans also puts a fine point on the harsh political realities confronting the president.
Nearly two years into his last term, Obama’s approval ratings are sagging. His ability to set the agenda is quickly fading as Washington becomes consumed by the midterm elections and then, in 2016, the race to replace Obama. And despite a booming Wall Street, the recovery has yet to filter down to many of the middle-class families hit hardest by the recession.
At the same time, the speeches, news conferences and White House appearances that used to command primetime coverage are no longer attracting attention as interest in Obama wanes.
“The president can do all the policy he wants,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University. “If he doesn’t feed the beast with a heart-rending story showing his policies in action, it doesn’t work very well anymore.”
Obama’s strategy also dovetails with advice Democrats are hearing from pollsters as they gird for a tough midterm election. In a strategy memo this week, veteran pollster Stan Greenberg urged Democrats to spend more time on an “in your shoes” economic message, focusing on workplace issues that resonate well with unmarried women and other key voting groups.
Obama isn’t the first president to try to boil down his agenda into humanizing, individual stories.
Lyndon Johnson had his famous “Poverty Tour,” with the iconic images of the president surrounded by rundown shacks and barefoot boys. And Ronald Reagan sought person-to-person interaction through letters, phone calls and personal visits, having learned from his movie career that “you have to stay in touch with the box office,” Brinkley said.
“I’ve been really looking forward to getting out of D.C.,” Obama said, musing aloud about a potential ice cream stop. “I don’t know, I’m just going to make it up as I go along.”
Obama’s two-day trip to Minnesota was to continue Thursday evening when Obama headlines a fundraiser benefiting House Democrats. On Friday, Obama planned to highlight his push to increase the minimum wage during an economic speech at a waterside band shell before returning to Washington.
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Associated Press writers Brian Bakst in Minneapolis and Nedra Pickler and Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington contributed to this report.
