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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSo much for the ‘second-term curse’
Posted with permission.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/so-much-the-second-term-curse?cid=sm_fb_maddow
So much for the second-term curse
12/22/15 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
After the presidents year-end press conference at the White House on Friday, Politico ran an attention-getting headline: Obama spikes the football.
After watching this president closely, Ive long believed bragging isnt his strong suit. For all the Republican assumptions about his so-called arrogance, Obama generally does a poor job when it comes to touting his own successes prompting many of his supporters to often wish he spiked the football far more than he actually does.
And with this in mind, it was notable when the president told reporters Friday moments after reaching the podium, As I look back on this year, one thing I see is that so much of our steady, persistent work over the years is paying off for the American people in big, tangible ways. Obama started rattling off successes, and the list wasnt short: a sharp drop in unemployment, growing wages, expanded access to affordable medical care, progress on the climate crisis, breakthroughs on civil rights, diplomatic accomplishments, and on and on.
We talked last week about how very wrong the conventional wisdom was a year ago about what to expect from the White House in 2015. After the midterm elections, Obama was largely written off, and it was widely assumed, incorrectly, that hed have few if any accomplishments in his seventh year. The truth turned out to be the exact opposite.
But writing in RealClearPolitics yesterday, Bill Scher took an even broader view, providing useful context for the presidents entire second term.
At the risk of jinxing our current president with one year left to go, he appears to have broken the curse.
Sure, theres still a year to go in this second term, but Schers observation is sound.
At least in modern terms, its tough to top Obamas first term when it comes to major successes: ending the Great Recession, passing health-care reform, overhauling Wall Street safeguards, rescuing the American auto industry, etc.
But the presidents second term ranks among the more important of any modern two-termer, most notably because of historic accomplishments on foreign policy: an international nuclear agreement with Iran; overhauling a failed U.S. policy towards Cuba; a breakthrough global climate-change agreement, and so on. If his executive actions on immigration clear the courts, it will be another important piece of his second-term legacy.
Those struggling with a second-term curse tend to struggle; Obamas done the opposite.
Scher makes the persuasive point that this president has avoided what many of his predecessors did not: a second-term scandal. Iran-contra, Watergate, and the Lewinsky affair were all second-term controversies. Its easy to lose track of all of George W. Bushs scandals, but many of the biggest including the U.S. Attorney fiasco, my personal favorite came after his re-election.
Obama, at least so far, hasnt had any meaningful scandals at all. Some manufactured controversies briefly caused stirs, but each were discredited, and ultimately exposed as little more than mirages for far-right conspiracy theorists. Center-right pundit David Brooks recently marveled at this amazingly scandal-free administration.
Whats more, lets not overlook the fact that many of the presidents second-term successes, including some key Supreme Court victories, are the culmination of fights that began in his first term, only to be wrapped up more recently. The Washington Posts Chris Cillizza added on Friday, {R}egardless of your politics, its hard not to look at the last year and see a whole lot of checked boxes on Obamas long-term priority list. And the ability to check those boxes in the seventh year of his presidency proved, beyond any question, that Obama remained not only relevant but a force to be reckoned with, politically speaking.
Bill Schers piece concluded, Future presidents, in either party, will do themselves a favor by following the Obama model. That sounds like good advice.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)Well done Pres O even in the face of total opposition and vitriol berating by both sides. Well done!
Egnever
(21,506 posts)Doubt I will see another as good in my lifetime.
Hekate
(90,840 posts)Those were his parting words on that press conference, and though I'm fairly certain what he meant from the context, I have to admit that most sports parlance goes over my head.
I miss President Obama already, especially in this season of Trump spewing the vilest KKK crap and Cruz slithering behind waiting to pick up the votes at the RNC.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,369 posts)... I just hope that doesn't include signing TPP.
rufus dog
(8,419 posts)As justabozo stated it means leaving nothing in the tank.
Most commonly used by defensive players and means you are going to knock the shit out of the other team. Even with a big lead you don't give them any easy scores, the objective is to inflict pain on the other team and make them focus only on one thing, getting the hell off the field and into the locker room.
One problem is that it has to be a unified team effort. If the strong side safety and linebacker are knocking the living shit out of you then you tend to run plays to the weak (opposite) side.
So Obama's problem is to get his own team to support his objective. If they don't at first you end up needing to knock the shit out of a teammate. Based upon the media and the weak side teammates I can't see this working, but I hope like hell he does it.