Calling for cooperation, Obama engages in confrontation

Washington: President Barack Obama in just three days has provoked Republicans on issues as disparate as immigration, Wall Street and the Keystone pipeline. It's a combative mix that comes amid presidential appeals for bipartisanship.
Obama is head lining a Miami immigration town hall on Wednesday to sustain pressure on Republican lawmakers who want to tie spending on homeland security to repeal of his immigration executive actions.
On Tuesday, he vetoed Republican-backed legislation that would have forced construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. And on Monday he proposed tougher rules on financial brokers who help manage retirement accounts, over Wall Street objections.
The aggressive approach comes even as Obama insists he is willing to find common ground with Republican leaders on such issues as trade and reforms to the criminal justice system.