By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--December 19, 2014
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Obama feels liberated, aides say, and sees the recent flurry of aggressive executive action and deal-making as a pivot for him to spend his final two years in office being more the president he always wanted to be. As of Wednesday, that includes doing what 50-plus years of predecessors couldn’t do in relations with Cuba, propelling a generational shift in American foreign policy that could bring down a final remaining pillar of the Cold War. The Cuba announcement follows a post-Election Day sprint that included sealing a landmark climate agreement with China, shielding 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, and reaching a deal that funds most of the government for nearly a year while protecting Obamacare and other top priorities.
The midterms are done, and Obama feels that he doesn’t have to worry about being the driving factor in any other Democrat’s election. He has spent a year nudging Americans to judge him less on legislative accomplishments and more on his executive actions. And now he has a fully Republican Congress that he can alternate butting up against and making deals with — but really not thinking much about it at all.If Obama is truly "nudging Americans to judge him less on legislative accomplishments and more on his executive actions" his legacy and his party are in deep, deep, trouble. What this President is doing has shown to be - time and time again - deeply unpopular. Yet Democrats are almost assuredly going to shut their mouths and quietly go along with the Executive power grab. That means that the Republicans will probably have an opportunity to tie the Dems' 2016 candidate to Obama's dictatorial method of governing. If the last few months are any indication, the country will spend the next two years getting more and more fed up with Presidential fiats. ...And the Dems will be forced to defend it. In the meantime, hang on to your hats. A Barack Obama unconstrained by political strategy? That should make for one wild ride.
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