"Obama Isn’t Finished Yet"

[applegrove]

Obama Isn’t Finished Yet

By JAMES MANN at the NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/opinion/obama-isnt-finished-yet.html?smid=re-share&_r=0

"SNIP...........................


However, history also demonstrates a larger truth that the commentators ignore today. Quite a few of the most significant achievements of the Reagan, Clinton and Bush presidencies took place in their final two years. The public may pay ever less attention in the final years, and the president’s perceived power may be on the wane. Yet he still possesses the same great constitutional authority.


Reagan’s most significant diplomacy with Mikhail S. Gorbachev, which contributed to the end of the Cold War, took place in his final two years. In Mr. Clinton’s final two years, he paved the way for China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, cementing the international economic order we have today, and began military action in Kosovo without obtaining approval by the United Nations Security Council, thus setting a precedent for similar American military actions since. Mr. Bush’s last two years saw the “surge” of American troops into Iraq, altering the course of the war there; the largest financial bailout in the nation’s history; and the signing of the agreement with Iraq to remove American forces at the end of 2011.


Mr. Obama’s presidency likewise has a long way to go: in the new war with the Islamic State, on a nuclear deal with Iran, on new trade agreements, on a new immigration policy, and in areas we can’t even imagine yet. So how can we explain the premature doomsaying?

If there is such a thing as a national psychology, then we might call this a kind of collective projection. We claim that a president is tired or looks tired, when what we really mean is that we are tired of him. (In fact, second-term presidents may be less tired than their graying hair and wrinkled faces suggest. They often play more golf than they did in their first terms.) By his sixth year in office, any president is ridiculously overexposed. We’ve seen him and heard him far too many times.





............................SNIP"

[leftstreet]

1. TPP, Chained CPI, Syria...yep still lots to do n/t

[Thinkingabout]

2. K & R

I look forward to more accomplishments by Obama but when I think of the BFD of ACA I wonder if he could top this. I am hoping there will be accomplishing strides against the likes of ISIS, it wont be easy but this would be a good thing. Equal pay for women would be nice and more attention placed on violence.

[tularetom]

3. The writer makes a good point

"We claim that a president is tired or looks tired, when what we really mean is that we are tired of him."

I will say this. I'm far less tired of Obama at this point in his term, than I was with any of the other recent 2 term presidents. Couldn't wait to get rid of Bush, Clinton and Reagan. Or especially Nixon. But I think 2 terms is one too many. I'd like to see some consideration given to a single six-year presidential term.

[global1]

4. When Barack Obama Was First Elected President Was When I Really Was Able To Sleep Again.....

without waking up in cold sweats and fear. That was what I endured during G.W.Bush's terms. I couldn't sleep and it was because I didn't feel safe with Bush as President. I've been sleeping rather good since Barack Obama took over. I don't know if I'll be able to trust whomever follows President Obama. I don't know if I'll be able to have a good nights sleep once his Presidency is over.

I trust President Obama. He's got two daughters that will have to live in this world once he is not President and I really feel that he wants to make this world one in which his daughters and grandchlldren will be safe. I don't think he would do anything purposefully to make their lives difficult.

I know that I'm probably leading with my chin here. Let the wrath of DU come down on me now for saying this.

[yeoman6987]

7. I hear people say that a lot

Not just Bush but any president for a variety of reasons. I can honestly say that I have never lost sleep for any President ever. In fact, I rarely lose sleep over anything. I love to sleep and am so glad I don't worry like that. I also NEVER get up in the middle of the night to go the bathroom. I just never have....next morning, however. Lol.




Hopefully you won't worry so much about things you can't control ever again. First of all it isn't healthy. And we want you here strong and alert for the daily fight against nasty forces trying to ruin our country.

[99Forever]

5. Considering what is on his agenda...

... I think it's best if he doesn't get much done.

[Wella]

6. What do you think is on his agenda?

I assume that the next big push is for carbon credits legislation, re: global warming.

[99Forever]

8. Looks to me...

... like TPP and never-ending war top his hit list.

[Wella]

9. TPP will go through no matter who is president.

These trade agreements are the death of freedom.

[99Forever]

11. Bullshit.

TPP will get a veto when Bernie Sanders is President.

[Wella]

12. You really think Bernie has a shot?

?

[99Forever]

13. I think he is what We the People want and need.

So yes, he has way more than "a shot." He holds the future survival of this nation in his hands.

[Wella]

14. I can't think of a scenario in which Bernie wins the primary

Maybe I am just too jaded. The Establishment has a tendency to take out the outliers.

[99Forever]

15. Think whatever you please.

Doesn't mean a thing to me. Given the alternatives, it's the only acceptable outcome.

[Wella]

16. OK, then.

,

[99Forever]

17. I was neither...

.. seeking your approval nor am I interested in it.

[Wella]

18. I wasn't giving it.

I was merely ending the interchange.

So I'll end it again.

[cali]

20. actually, there's a very solid chance that the TPP will NOT go through

Japan is just not playing ball. thankfully.

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. Two more years, y'all

Haters of all stripes get to eat it for two more plus years, and it's effing delicious!

[woo me with science]

19. Chilling words with a corporatist in office.

TPP/TISA, here we come.