Obama is dealt 4 Aces and he folds his hand.

[DFW]

246. Like I said, I wouldn't want his job

He has to juggle the interests of the population as a whole, much of whom isn't doing very well economically, against the opposition of the Republican Party, who represents the privileged, but has the House and can block or stall anything they want. Like Bill Clinton, he grew up poor. He knows what it is. Part of the reason he was so concerned about the cost of health care is because he is well aware of how many people have none. But unless voters turn out in record numbers to elect members of his party, he will have to deal with an opposition that represents moneyed interests that don't give a shit. A U.S. president doesn't rule by decree. If he did, Bush would have privatized Social Security by 2005.

With Health Care Reform, he took half a loaf because it was that or none. If he ruled by decree alone, we would have had single payer before he had been in office six months. On the other hand, if U. S. presidents ruled by decree, you and I would both be either in prison or dead under the Cheney (dba Bush) administration. I got the impression that Obama feels sort of like an oncologist who is trying to treat cancer patients, and doesn't have the time to both find a cure and try to keep the afflicted alive at the same time. You can't imagine the obstacles he has had to jump over just to get us as far as he has. Believe me, he wishes he had other people than Mitch McConnell and John Boehner to talk to when trying to hammer out what can possibly be passed in Congress.