GUY RAZ, host:
Welcome back to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.
President Obama went to Massachusetts this afternoon, making a last-minute push to save a Democratic Senate candidate and, quite possibly, to save his own political agenda as well.
Democrat Martha Coakley is in a suddenly tight race for the Senate seat that was held for almost half a century by the late Ted Kennedy. If she loses to Republican Scott Brown on Tuesday, that would eliminate the critical 60th vote in the Democrat's Senate majority. And it could endanger the president's health care initiative.
NPR's Scott Horsley is in Boston with the president.
And, Scott, this campaign trip was sort of an 11th-hour decision for the White House, right?
SCOTT HORSLEY: That's right, Guy. For most of the last week, the White House had been saying the president would not make a personal campaign appearance on behalf of Martha Coakley. But on Friday, they did an abrupt about-face and said that the president would make this trip. That shows just how close the race is and how high the stakes are for the administration.
RAZ: So what's the president's pitch here, Scott?
HORSLEY: Well, interestingly, he's not talking a whole lot about health care. That is one of the issues he mentions. But they have really sort of put their focus on the proposal that the administration rolled out last week, to impose a new tax on the biggest banks. That's something that Martha Coakley supports and that her Republican opponent opposes. And I think it's a measure of how ambivalent the voters are about health care overhaul.
RAZ: What about the Republican candidate Scott Brown? What was he doing today?
HORSLEY: He's having his own rally in Worcester this afternoon. He has some of his own star power. He's got former Red Sox Curt Schilling here. He's got the Boston College star, Doug Flutie, and the actor who played Cliff on "Cheers."
RAZ: Mm-hmm. That's NPR's Scott Horsley.
Scott, thanks so much.
HORSLEY: My pleasure.
RAZ: And before he arrived in Massachusetts with the president, Scott prepared a report for us, A Day in the Life of Mr. Obama, which, as you will hear, is a kind of microcosm for what he dealt with all year long.
President BARACK OBAMA: Good morning, everybody.
HORSLEY: It was just after 10 o'clock Thursday morning when President Obama spoke to reporters in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House. Flanked by his secretaries of Defense and State, Mr. Obama said the early reports from Haiti were nothing less than devastating.
Pres. OBAMA: I've directed my administration to launch a swift, coordinated and aggressive effort to save lives and support the recovery in Haiti.
HORSLEY: Earlier that morning, the president met in the Oval Office with his national security team. This was a moment that called out for American leadership, he said. It was also a chance for the president to show his own leadership as commander and comforter-in-chief.
Pres. OBAMA: To the people of Haiti, we say clearly and with conviction, you will not be forsaken; you will not be forgotten.
HORSLEY: It was a powerful moment for the president. It was also perhaps the least controversial moment in Mr. Obama's day. Less than two hours later, he was back in front of the microphones, this time with the Treasury secretary at his side. Mr. Obama announced plans for a new tax on the nation's biggest banks, aimed at recovering some $90 billion that was spent on the government's bailout effort.
Pres. OBAMA: We want our money back and we're going to get it.
HORSLEY: The president, who has been accused of doing more to help Wall Street than working people, took on a populist tone he rarely uses. He said he's particularly determined to go after big banks because of the multimillion-dollar paychecks they've been writing to some of their employees.
Pres. OBAMA: If these companies are in good enough shape to afford massive bonuses, they are surely in good enough shape to afford paying back every penny to taxpayers.
HORSLEY: Unlike the Haitian relief effort, the proposed bank tax is just a proposal. It would have to clear Congress and a phalanx of bank lobbyists in order to take effect.
While the president was in the spotlight making his pitch, aides were working behind the scenes on another legislative priority - health care - and using just the kind of backroom bargaining tactics that candidate Obama once promised to avoid.
After winning concessions in those negotiations, labor unions dropped their opposition to a tax on so-called Cadillac insurance policies. The deal was announced about 4:30 in the afternoon, just as Mr. Obama headed to Capitol Hill for a pre-arranged meeting with House Democrats.
(Soundbite of applause)
Pres. OBAMA: Thank you, House of Representatives. Thank you. Thank you very much.
HORSLEY: The big Democratic majority in the House has given Mr. Obama most of what he wanted this past year: a big stimulus program, energy legislation and a health care bill. But it hasn't come easily for either the White House or the lawmakers. Mr. Obama tried to reassure the restless members of his party that if they hang together, they won't get hung out to dry.
Pres. OBAMA: I know that some of the fights we've been going through have been tough. I know that some of you have gotten beaten up at home. Some of the fights that we're going to go through this year are going to be tough as well. But just remember why each of us got into public service in the first place -we found something that was worth fighting for.
HORSLEY: The president, who began his career as a community organizer, now finds himself trying to hold many different communities together. One moment, he's directing an international response to an epic earthquake. The next, he's trying to bridge fault lines in his own party.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi witnessed the juggling act this past week. She told House Democrats Thursday how Mr. Obama spearheaded marathon health care negotiations, while periodically ducking out of the room to consult a military adviser or talk with a foreign leader about Haiti.
Representative NANCY PELOSI (Democrat, California; Speaker of the House): We saw leadership. We saw compassion. We saw American values. We saw President Barack Obama.
(Soundbite of applause)
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama didn't have much time to savor the applause of his fellow Democrats. A few hours later, he was back at the White House for another round of health care talks. His 360th workday as president finally ended just before 1 a.m.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.