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Robin Buckson / AP
The president's first four years at the White House in pictures.
Just 11 weeks removed from a sweeping re-election victory, President Barack Obama has hit the ground running with an ambitious second-term agenda that includes tackling the mounting national debt, immigration and gun control.
But the window in which the president has any hopes of meeting his aggressive goals has already begun to close.
Confronting the fading effectiveness of a second-term presidency, dogged opposition from Republicans in Congress and unexpected hurdles that will inevitably arise over the next four years, Obama must act with a sense of urgency on his plans, particularly amid the fiscal cliff negotiations.
“Second-term presidents generally get eight months or so ... where there's a honeymoon to push an agenda,” said James Thurber, the director of Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University. “He doesn't even have a month.”
Newly armed with “Organizing for Action” – the remnants of the president’s campaign structure, converted to a nonprofit for advocacy purposes – Obama has suggested he will indeed act quickly on his top priorities.
NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss points out that the US needs a president who is also going to suggest things that are not raised by an event of national magnitude, and that was something we saw a lot of in Obama's speech Monday.
But the next few months might well test the limits of the political capital that the president won in November, which saw Obama score a decisive victory over Republican opponent Mitt Romney and Democrats add seats in the House and the Senate.
If this past December’s lame duck Congress – in which Obama won higher tax rates for the wealthy, but only after a bitter fight with Republicans – offers any lessons, it’s that the GOP is equally committed to pursuing its own priorities, making compromise just as elusive as before.
The fiscal cliff fight will extend into this spring, when the government hits a series of major deadlines to keep the government funded and prevent a default on the national debt. That bare-knuckled fight could make or break Obama’s hopes of accomplishing much else on his agenda.
“I don't believe that he can wait until the last minute to deal with the debt ceiling and sequestration,” said Martin Frost, a former Democratic congressman from Texas. “That's got to be worked out during February.”
That fight would threaten to consume much of the political oxygen in Washington in any normal year. And Obama’s ability to pivot toward his other major priorities, gun violence and immigration, may well hinge upon how quickly and cleanly he can dispense with this spring’s spending fight.
TODAY's Lester Holt reports from Washington D.C. on how the struggles and victories of President Obama's first term have set the stage for opportunities of the second.
History suggests that many presidents cannot hope to accomplish much in the last two years of their term, when the jockeying for the next presidential campaign begins. And with midterm elections looming in 2014, lawmakers will inevitably turn at some point from governing to politicking.
"There's kind of an arc of achievement in presidential administrations. Usually the first few months of a new administration is where most of the accomplishment takes place," said Ross Baker, a presidential historian at Rutgers University. "It's hard to imagine getting another piece of legislation of the magnitude of the Affordable Care Act in the second term."
And Obama’s hopes of significant reforms to immigration and gun laws might well depend upon how well (or how poorly) the spending fight with Congress proceeds.
The president last week laid out a series of measures intended to curb gun violence, most significantly proposals to limit the size of ammunition magazines, ban assault weapons and require universal background checks on firearm purchases. That plan won little praise from Republicans, and Obama might have to lean upon any reservoir of goodwill he has left after the spending fight to reach his goals.
Obama is practically obligated to attempt immigration reform after soothing the Latino community during last year’s election about his inability to follow through with a pledge to accomplish immigration reform in his first term. If re-elected, Obama told Hispanic voters, he would make immigration reform a priority in this second term.
Both proposals could engender significant Republican resistance, a phenomenon familiar to any observers of Obama’s first four years in office.
Another significant – and unpredictable – variable that could ruin even the best-laid plans involves the unknown crises that will inevitably arise during Obama’s second term.
The "Meet the Press" moderator looks ahead to Monday's inaugural address, predicting President Obama will discuss economic relief and how he'll tackle America's toughest issues in a divided political atmosphere that's still "toxic" for the White House.
A foreign policy crisis could always erupt and consume the president’s attention. Uprisings in Egypt, Libya and Syria, for instance, proved to major developments during Obama’s first four years in office.
If anything, the president’s first term offered a cautionary tale of how difficult it can be to navigate the obstacles to success that can arise.
The president nearly saw his signature health reform law go down to defeat after the advent of the Tea Party movement, for instance.
And external events – a near-meltdown of the economy, mass shootings, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and other crises – consumed as much of the president’s first term as anything else.
Just as foreign policy could prove to be a diversion from policy making, it’s one of the few policy areas where a lame-duck president can leave a legacy.
For instance, Bill Clinton, in the waning days of his presidency, concentrated on achieving an elusive peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.
“He's got a whole range of things on his plate right now,” Frost said of Obama, “it just really depends on how he prioritizes things.”
Leave a Comment:
We are actually worse off with Obama, but both parties have sucked in their own ways. His policies are all bad and his gun-ban ideas will do nothing but hurt law-abiding gun-owners, but I didn't really expect anything different and he has delivered on nothing for America that is based on reason.
He looks so small and puney in front of our Great American flag....Kind gives me hope that America....our Constitution is to big-to powerful in it's truth and justice for him to destroy it all. America is full of good and decent people, folks who work hard and have chisseled out legacies for generations to come. We are NOT the bitter clingers to guns and relgion that Obama acuses Americans to be. Instead we are Mothers and Fathers sons who grow up to join the Infantry to fight and some die for our country, we are daughters who love our freedom, we are God fearing, independent, self starters, go-getters, compassionate, forgiving,chartiable and proud Americans. Soon he will be history...and the stain that his bad policies has left on our flag can be washed away with time.
The Republicans need to get their house in order. We lost an election, not our minds.
Dear Republican Congressman,
Stop the profligate spending!
Hold the line on our present gun laws.
Make immigration fair.
Sincerely,
Republican Voter
“Second-term presidents generally get eight months or so ... where there's a honeymoon to push an agenda,”
I would have to agree with this part of the story (about the only part of it I do) as this is the where most re-elected presidents take an 8 month vacation!
"Just 11 weeks removed from a sweeping re-election victory, President Barack Obama has hit the ground running with an ambitious second-term agenda that includes tackling the mounting national debt, immigration and gun control".
Ha, ha, ha...really? Must be a different Obama and another world on some other planet that the writer of the story if referring to. The truth of the matter is, until the Federal Reserve and the banking system can be overhauled, the debt problem can never be fixed. Banking and government are tied far too closely together and politicians can lie about this from both sides. There is no plan, there never has been. That's why we haven't had a budget in over years. And another part of the problem is, no one seems to care. I guess they don't care because they know none of this can be done, but none of them are ever going to admit to.
Our country is in a financial world of hurt. Money is as tight as bark on a tree. It has been since 2008. Money is losing value. This never ending QE3 will eventually totally destroy our financial system. People can call Berneke an idiot, but I believe they know exactly what they are doing...flood the markets with cash, devalue the dollar and bring about an entire economic collapse.
If the economy completely collapses, is anyone going to worry about a balanced budget and our nations debt???! I don't think anyone would because what would then be the point. So, we watch as the actors on stage (the politicians from both sides) play and argue back and forth, with smoke-and-mirror stuff, while the American people wait for the other shoe to drop.
Here's to four more years of a weak economy and declining American influence around the globe.
Rifles of all types are used in only about 2.5% of all murders. The real problem occurs among inner-city thugs. He's majoring in the minors.
Obama doesn't think we have a spending problem, but rather a revenue problem that can be fixed by finding new ways to tax us. Think of a Value Added Tax (VAT) like Europe or a carbon tax.
Here's the rest of his agenda. Note that some of it is in place already.
Why are the conservative hacks so resistant to trying to explain these numbers:
December, 2008 GDP just shrank 9% for the fourth quarter (guess who was President...it wasn't Obama)
December, 2012 GDP just grew 3.1% for the fourth quarter (guess who was President...it WAS Obama)
Obama turned the economy around to the tune of +12.1% GDP growth.....
I'll keep posting these real numbers until I get one of these cowards to actually address them.
Recessions come and go regardless of who is president. Obama did slow the recovery down and is steering us toward economic catastrophe if he doesn't stop spending.
Everything I see shows the GDP going up the last parts of Bush's term.
fascist....the way they read GDP numbers is the same now as it was in 2008; so your argument (once again) is ludicrous.
Greggy....RIGHT! All Presidents have to deal with 9% per quarter GDP shrinkage, right? ALL Presidents have to deal with the world economy tanking and losing over 10 million jobs in less than two years, right?
What a stupid argument. Then you finish with the typical one liner from the conservoclown playbook. Great argument goober.
O'Bama's Agenda????? We are tired of having the White House used for HIS agenda-I'd bet his 'agenda' doesn't even match that of his supporters. How about 'fixing'the economy- his 'pretend' agenda for the first 4 years? He is supposed to represent US,not cram his 'agenda' down everyone's throat..
WOW, The more taxes that are implimented,
The higher the national debt grows,
Enslave the sheeple with debt and
socialism will be the least of your concern.
I believe history repeats itself; I leave you with this quote:
"There are all kinds of low class slime who are trying and will continue to try to wreck this country from the inside. Most of them don't know it, but they are actually working for the Russians. Some of them do know it, though. It doesn't matter whether they call themselves Communists, Socialists, or just plain foolish Liberals. They are destroying this country.
Politicians are the lowest form of life on earth. Liberal Democrats are the lowest form of politicians. I really shudder for the future of our country. Someone must not only win the war, but also the PEACE."
-General George S. Patton Jr.
Love it....stole it to my FB......
I don't think there are any liberals here to debate.
How can conservatives make the media become honest? Can we organize a nationwide, internet-organized boycott of a website or sponsor of NBC, etc to show solidarity?
Naa. Just go watch fox and stay off the NBC sites. That would be good.
It is time to park Golf Cart ONE and get to work.
What if we all stopped watching CNN on Wednesday? Would it be noticed? Would the sponsors notice?
The political capital you cite makes it sound like this bogus goon won the election in a landslide. He didn't. The country is as divided today as in the days leading up to the Civil War. Just what is it again that the little clown and his court jester Biden will be able to accomplish?
Obama HAS divided the country like I've never seen before. However I love this country too much to have one man make us hate each other. War is a terrible, terrible thing.
President Obama and the the democrats are practicing backdoor taxation. Their tax plan will only filter money through top tax brackets from every American. When businesses are faced with higher costs (taxes are a cost) they either close or pass the costs on to consumers. Everyone will pay.
Look up the Townsend act of 1767. The British realized that the people living in the American colonies did not like to be taxed directly. So they they taxed items used to make products like glass, furniture etc.....
The makers of those items then in turn raised their prices to the consumer. So the British were able to say to the people we did not tax you, we tax them. They were the ones making you pay more.
They forgot to add on thing to his agenda. Increase spending. Everyone knows you stop recessions by spending more. One can spend their way to prosperity.
"Ambitious agenda: Debt fight, gun control and immigration top president's to-do list"
How about a less ambitious agenda and leave us the hell alone!
I agree. He has spent most of his time in office trying to change the way Americans live. I can't remember a day he has not been on tv trying to brain wash Americans.
"Wake Up America"
We can fix ALL of America's Real Issues!
1) Withdraw from the Free Trade Organization!
2) Abolish all Free Trade Acts!
3) Make America an Industrialized/Manufacturing Nation again, America cannot survive as a Service Industry!
4) Impose Term Limits(Two, Four year terms MAX) on all Elected Officials at all levels of Government and State and abolish the Electorial Colleges, Americas must elect the Politicians!
5) Stop all AID to foreign countries!
6) Produce what Americans Consume in America by Americans!
7) Implement a National Healthcare Plan!
8) Bring our troops home,end all Conflicts/Wars, place our troops on America's Borders and protect America from Terrorist, Illegal Immagrants and Drugs!
9) Stop all legislation on Gun Control, Illegal Immigration, and stop attacking our Constitution!
The above is a great START to making America Solvent and a Super Power again! "God Bless America"
No liberals here. You guys are preaching to the choir.
We must make the media be honest. How?
Guns, Debt, and Immigration ..... three more things Obama has no clue about!
Obama has not a clue about America...we need to deport him back to where ever it is he is from!
Ooo The Following comes on tonight I can't wait to watch it while I clean my assault weapons and count my bullets. Oh how we love violence, murder and mayhem, that's why we just love all these wonderful news stories nothing wrong here just being human I suppose . Export jobs for slave labor and the freedom to pollute your heart out , import desperate people for slave labor, dumb the people down, feed them violence and filth, fill your prisons with non violent criminals and send the violent criminals back out on the streets. Also make it almost impossible for the mentally ill to receive treatment until they commit some horrific crime. Buy out both parties, use them to blame each other and divide the voters, sooner or later you will have the public begging to take all of their rights away just to be safe, then bingo you have total control.
I do solemnly swear to keep lying, cheating, murdering, and stealing from what we consider to be lower class citizens. We promise to remove your protected amendment rights from your constitutions left and right. As far as jobs we are going to take them away and give them to all the wet backs that are here. You wetbacks will never be citizens in my book. Your just like our fed government system you break the rules of law and @!$%# all over our constitution with no regard for anyone except your fkn selves. Your illegal when you get here and are law breakers and I dont give a fck if you think you belong here or not. Its not a presidents decision to let you in either. He is a dick fck himself if he lets you fcks stay. One minority letting in an other. You fckn scum of the earth all need to get the @!$%# out of our country. There will be a time coming that we will not fckn tell your asses to get out we will start removing you criminals without the federal government piece of crap support. Count on it. They will follow your asses out the country and we will take this over from these lying hitler like regime fcks. Eat dung all you star wearing mthr fkrs. Bastard human right violating pieces of sht. All of you. This federal regime you call a government is worse than Mr. Nagal the former mayor who got kick backs. What do you think this federal government has gotten. How about 2.5 to 3 trillion dollars in war booty money they had hidden in bonds and cashed out over the 9/11 spree with no evidence of any transactions. The vaults were all opened in the 3 major bond companies in the towers and the planes all targeted every one of the companies and the workers that were just about to blow the whistle on the illegal bond money, they all died in the towers. They also promise to hide evidence from the twin towers that would show all their fckn lies. All of them. They hate wikileaks because wikileaks has exposed their lies about human right activity, their known quashing of law by acting as if our constitution doesnt exist. I really dont care about their foreign policy lies but human right violations and Constitution Corruption. These are the fks that are running our country and you put them there. YOU! Wikileaks exposes these that lie, who they are, where the money is going, and who is moving everyone. Lies, lies, and more lies and is everything for them and crap all over the people they are protecting and serving. Come take my guns mother fkrs. See if you dont get one in the head on the way in. I promise that will occur. What ever happens after that, well will see about that you piece of scum bag fed gov. All of you by the way. All of you! You fcks that think your all this and all that. Better take a look at David in the old testament and ask yourselves if this isnt what you fcks are gearing up for. Thats where its headed you know. Better take a good look at Vietnam as well and see if that kind of effort doesnt pay off. Trust me you big ole pwr fcks its possible to defeat your asses. All of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All you federal government employee illegal surveillance fcks can kiss my bll sac. Fck off you pieces of sht. Even with all your surveillance fcks these days as well. I could expose all your bs these days. ALL OF IT. All you have to do to figure the fed gov out is think about the biggest lies they could possibly make and start looking, you will find them. There they are. They all act like their all this and all that. I'd dearly love to spend 5 minutes in a boxing ring with anyone of these political bitches. Any of you bitches. Make it UFC rules. I would teach them alot about ethics, morals, and what deceit and lying does to people that do those kind of sins. You illegal surveilling scumbags. You all need your lil asses kicked at this point for the lies of 9/11 and you all need removed from power. All your asses. They are smelling pretty bad these days. I'd love to remove everyone of you scumbags and let normal ethical citizens run this show. We would do 10 times the job you lazy fcks do now. We work 10 times harder and get 10 x less pay. Then we would make all you fks pay the bills for the next 100 million years or so. Politicians and police, riding the fences of morality and criminal behavior. You have all moved to the criminal side and does it ever need to fkn stop. All Obama is is a puppet for the money makers of 9/11. Who is that you wonder? Take a look a wikileaks.org and find out. They stick out like a sore thumb, isnt that right all you illegal surveillance boys and girls. If you wonder why they hate wikileaks is because wikileaks has done to them what they are now doing to you and I with our human right policy change that THEY MADE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS! Your constitution is now gone over the lies of Weapons of Mass destruction and this lead to major money lies and theft as well as an illegal war as well as all the illegal fckn police powers created, all of them. They not only orchestrated 9/11 but also the Oklahoma bombing as well all to lead to this bull@!$%# story of 9/11 and all the money trails that were started then. All of them as well as the ones that were hidden. Keep on believing in SCUM America as the powers that be have set themselves up with the money to remain there a very long time as well as make your asses pay for it. Dont think evil is running this show. Better think again. I have never seen a more blatant lying sack of government as I have in the last 3 terms of presidency. These are the promises you will get from these lying sacks of crap. All of them.
This is the time that conserative leaders need to come together and focus on the next election...we need to make sure that we increase our numbers in Congress and the Senate which will enable us to better STOP Obama and his destructive policies....Republicans in Congress now..I say to you...get a back bone...grow some tough skin...Remember your forfathers....they would not give up and they would not give in ....Remember Lincoln and Remember America is at stake.
Conservatives,
We need to ensure that our education system espouses American values and is honest and truthful about American history.
Obama and Democrat Party Theme Song
1,2,3,4,1,2
Let me tell you how it will be,
There’s one for you, nineteen for me,
‘Cause I’m the Taxman, (Obama)
Yeah, I’m the Taxman. (Obama)
Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don’t take it all.
‘Cause I’m the Taxman, (Obama)
Yeah, I’m the Taxman. (Obama)
(If you try to sit ), I’ll tax your seat,
(If you get too cold ), I’ll tax the heat,
(If you take a walk ), I’ll tax your feet.
Taxman. (Obama)
‘Cause I’m the Taxman, (Obama)
Yeah, I’m the Taxman. (Obama)
Don’t ask me what I want it for
(Haha! Mister Wilson!)
If you don’t want to pay some more
(Haha! Mister Heath!),
‘Cause I’m the Taxman, (Obama)
Yeah, I’m the Taxman. (Obama)
Now my advice for those who die, (Taxman!) (Obama)
Declare the pennies on your eyes, (Taxman!), (Obama)
‘Cause I’m the Taxman, (Obama)
Yeah, I’m the Taxman. (Obama)
And you’re working for no-one but me,
(Taxman). (Obama)
We should not have to fight our president to maintain our Constitutional rights.
Gregorio, the President was voted in by the majority of voters. Obama cannot go against the law or the Constitution. We have three branches of governenment with checks and balances.
Stop whining becuase people with your view lost and stop sipping off the NRA KOOL AID about somebody taking your rights.
These are the folks who voted for Obama
please se people of walmart video.
case closed.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNzwgrtdBo8