Obama gets back into campaign mode in Washington

President Obama wasn't the face of his 2012 campaign re-launch video released last week, but that doesn't mean he's not getting face-time with voters.

After a government shutdown was avoided late Friday, Mr. Obama took a victory lap at the Lincoln Memorial Saturday, telling surprised sightseers the Washington landmark was open because Congress was able to settle its differences on the budget.

"That's the kind of future cooperation I hope we have going forward because this is what America is all about," Mr. Obama told the crowd of cheering tourists.

The excursion had all the feeling of a campaign stop. As on-lookers snapped photos, Mr. Obama, casually dressed in khakis and a black jacket, bounded up the memorial steps, waving and shaking hands, telling the few hundred gathered he hoped they had a "great time." He did not take any questions from reporters on details of the deal and negotiations.

Mr. Obama was back in campaign mode Monday, again making an unscheduled stop to surprise a group of eighth grade students on a White House tour.

The mother of a Colorado middle school student wrote a letter to the president expressing concern that the class' visit would be canceled if the government had shut down.

"Not only did things work out, but we figured we'd give you a little bonus," he told the group gathered on the South Lawn for a picture with the president.

While the re-elect campaign has already officially launched, White House officials say they want to wait as long as possible before hitting the trail and that the best way Mr. Obama can run for president is to be president.

Stops such as Saturday's to the Lincoln Memorial and Monday's back at the White House, allow the president to tout legislative achievements and compromises with Congress, while still showing some personality and charm, the very traits that helped propel him to victory in 2008.

From a communications standpoint, it proved to work -- photos of the president at the Lincoln Memorial surrounded by tourists were above the fold on covers of most major newspapers on Sunday.

The sitting president was barely featured in his re-election kickoff video recently last week on the web and emailed to supporters. He appeared only twice and the images were from the 2008 campaign, not from his time in office.

While pundits looked into whether this was a sign the campaign was distancing itself from Mr. Obama's time in office, his recent stomp-like excursions indicate the commander-in-chief can still very much be the campaigner-in-chief.