Lame Duck?

[KeithE]

[Tim Bonney]

[Haruo]

Probably true, but many of us would have liked to see him try. And the deportation rate can't be blamed on Congress.

[KeithE]

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

Bill Maher, who isn't one of my favorite political commentators, or comedians, said on several occasions that President Obama would have sealed his legacy and guaranteed his political future by pushing a progressive agenda through Congress, and that a taste of the results after the first couple of years would have prevented the Republicans from gaining control again. If we'd have completely gone with a progressive foreign policy in the Middle East, a single payer health care system, shut down the flow of jobs overseas with the tax program he proposed, it would have produced the kind of economic recovery we've seen over the past six years, and kept his constituency turnouts high during the mid-terms. He says that centrist politics doesn't accomplish anything in the long run.

That may be true. It's hard to get excited about running to the middle.

[Dave Roberts]

I see the likelihood that Obama will be judged a mediocre President, in large part because he didn't push his agenda hard enough. The compromises on the ACA to skip the single-pay option and opt for keeping the favor of private insurers who have a chance to make billions, is the beginning of the undoing of his legacy. The ACA is a step in the right direction, but it is weak in its prospects for the future. He inherited two wars, the last of which is finally winding down, but he has not been able to relate to the conflict in Syria in a meaningful way, outside of bombing ISIS back to the stone age. The problem is that that is exactly where they want to go in founding a caliphate. Since 2010, we have been blessed with an obstructionist Congress that has accomplished nothing except political symbolism. It has never brought meaningful legislation to the forefront except in a few rushed bills. Congress can't seem to adopt a budget or respond to real needs. I suspect that the next two years will be more government by gridlock.

[KeithE]