It is only six months into his second term and President Obama is playing the lame duck.
From U.S. involvement in Syria to containment of Iran’s nuclear program, passage of comprehensive immigration reform to a debt-ceiling increase, or a smooth landing for his unpopular healthcare program, Obama’s immediate governing challenges seem far less interesting or urgent to him than his legacy wish list. What else could explain the fact that he is talking about tackling climate change and reducing nuclear arsenals when there is little to no political viability for either goal?
The president may believe all is well, but his approval rating has dropped considerably since winning reelection last year. In just a few weeks, Americans have learned the government can collect limitless data — inadvertently or otherwise — on all of us, watched markets rattle over fears the Federal Reserve could even consider a stimulus slowdown in a jobless recovery, and witnessed the Chinese and the Russians laugh us off as Edward Snowden slithers around the globe and the U.S. government sits powerless, hoping someone will ship him back here. The president’s attempt to talk Russian President Vladimir Putin into some cooperation in Syria, where Obama was finally forced to aid the opposition against the Assad regime, fell embarrassingly flat two weeks ago. Days later he pledged at the Brandenburg Gate to ask the Russians to participate in a nuclear weapons reduction they have no interest in. Now, Putin’s poking Obama in the eye by harboring Snowden, who leaked our secrets and jeopardized our security, as potential for a growing regional Middle East conflict increases by the day.
Read more: http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/ab-stoddard/308061-obama-needs-to-act#ixzz2XRhTRJnm
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