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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Bill Press
It didn't take long.
Six weeks ago, after Democrats took what President Obama called a real "shellacking" in the midterm elections, pundits fell
all over themselves writing Obama's political obituary. Whether liberal or conservative, they all agreed on one thing: He's
dead. He's toast. His presidency is over. The only thing the professional chattering class disagreed on was whether Obama
would face a primary challenge from a liberal Democrat in 2012 -- and who his Republican challenger (and successor in the
It didn't take long.
Now, the same gang is hailing Obama as the biggest comeback kid since Bill Clinton. Because, in the words
of Democratic strategist Bob Shrum, Obama took a "lame-duck" session of
Taxes.
Obama invited newly empowered congressional Republicans to a
Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
He promised to end it before the end of his first term, and he did. Maybe he could have done it sooner, but on December 22 President Obama still made history by ending the Pentagon's official policy of discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military: the greatest expansion of personal freedom since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Children's Nutrition.
A pet project of first lady Michelle Obama's, which seeks to provide healthier lunches and dinners to America's schoolchildren, as part of her campaign against childhood obesity. She was there when her husband signed the bill into law on December 13. He added a food safety bill on December 22.
Judges.
Senate Republicans have blocked dozens of Obama's judicial nominees, some of them since January 2010. By agreeing to hold back on four of his more controversial nominees, Obama persuaded Senate Republicans to confirm 19 new federal judges.
New START Treaty.
Recalcitrant Republicans tried every possible lame excuse on this one. They blamed Obama for caving in to
Russia, even though this was just the latest step in a series of U.S./Russian nuclear arms treaties
begun by Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. They complained about not having enough time
to study provisions of the treaty, even though for eight months the treaty had been posted on the Internet and been subject
to 18 full hearings by the
Despite the strenuous efforts by Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and Jon Kyl to kill the treaty, President Obama won ratification of New START and a significant reduction of nuclear warheads by both Russia and the United States.
To those known successes may well be added (still uncertain at time of posting this column) enactment of legislation to provide health care for our brave 9/11 responders.
And, of course, those 11th-hour successes are piled on top of what Obama had already accomplished earlier in his first two years: a
You may not agree with all of it, but you can't deny: It's the most significant record of legislative achievement by any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Available at Amazon.com:
Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America
Jimmy Carter: The American Presidents Series: The 39th President, 1977-81
The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy
The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics
Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House
Renegade: The Making of a President
Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought on the Civil War
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