{"id":23872,"date":"2014-12-17T19:14:37","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T03:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=23872"},"modified":"2014-12-18T18:46:28","modified_gmt":"2014-12-19T02:46:28","slug":"so-you-thought-president-obama-would-be-lame-duck-did-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=23872","title":{"rendered":"So You Thought President Obama Would Be A Lame Duck, Did You?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Six weeks ago an election concluded that brought what every Republican, and many Democrats, thought was the deathblow for the Obama administration. There was no phrase that was uttered more often than <em>&#8220;Lame Duck&#8221;<\/em> as pundits rushed to write the epitaph of Obama&#8217;s presidency and agenda. They were convinced that the Obama era was dead and, with apologies to Monty Python, it had&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;passed on. It is no more. It has ceased to be. It&#8217;s expired and gone to meet it&#8217;s maker. It&#8217;s a stiff. Bereft of life. It rests in peace. It&#8217;s pushing up the daisies. It&#8217;s metabolic processes are now history. It&#8217;s off the twig. It&#8217;s kicked the bucket. It&#8217;s shuffled off it&#8217;s mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisible. This is an ex-presidency.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/Pix\/GOP\/obama-lame-duck.jpg\" alt=\"Obama Lame Duck\" width=\"550\" height=\"298\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23873\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Well, in the subsequent forty-two days the President has demonstrated a stubborn resistance to complying with the conventional wisdom. He has defied his critics&#8217; forecasts of an untimely demise, as well as their conviction that he is incapable of leadership. Here is a brief summary of some of the achievements that have come to pass since November 5, 2014, beginning with an historic announcement today:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Normalizing relations with Cuba.<\/li>\n<li>Deferring deportation for certain undocumented immigrants.<\/li>\n<li>Passage of a spending bill that averts another government shutdown.<\/li>\n<li>Confirmation of his Surgeon General nominee.<\/li>\n<li>Confirmation of twenty-seven federal judges.<\/li>\n<li>Climate agreement with China.<\/li>\n<li>Protection for Bristol Bay, Alaska from future oil and gas drilling.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition to the above, Obama has also presided over record enrollments in the second year of ObamaCare, and the deflating of Russia&#8217;s economy. And all the while the U.S. economy is performing better than any other major nation, and most indicators are firmly in positive territory.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, there is still much room for improvement, but that cannot be achieved without the cooperation of Congress. There is not likely to be much of that in the next couple of years, but Obama has proven that he is able to attend to the interests of the American people even when Congress refuses to do so. And the 2016 cycle is shaping up to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=21869\" target=\"_blank\">heavily favor Democrats<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, 2016 holds decidedly bad news for Republicans and their new senate majority. The GOP will be defending 24 seats, as compared to only 10 for the Democrats. Nine of the those GOP seats are in states won by Obama in 2012. So are all of the Democratic seats. With a larger and more representative electorate it is almost a certainty that the senate will flip back to the Democrats. <\/p>\n<p>It will be interesting to see where we go from here as the new congressional session begins next month. What we already know is that with Republicans in charge the Congress has set a new record for laziness. It has spent more time on vacation than working (239 total vacation days in 2014). Plus, it was the least productive session in history. It took that trophy from the session just prior.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the blame has to be laid at the feet of John Boehner, the Tea Party, and the GOP&#8217;s inability and genetic aversion to governing. But if anyone is still holding onto the belief that Obama has become an irredeemable lame duck, the evidence of the past six weeks ought to shake that conviction. It is clear that Obama has no intention of being hobbled by an antagonistic Congress that cares more about their own grasp on power than they do the welfare of the people they are supposed to representing.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><strong>Get the ALL NEW 2nd volume of<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00QSSMOES\/ref=as_li_tl?\nie=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;tag=newscorpsecom-20&#038;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS\" target=\"_blank\">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.<\/a><br \/>\nAvailable now at Amazon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Six weeks ago an election concluded that brought what every Republican, and many Democrats, thought was the deathblow for the Obama administration. There was no phrase that was uttered more often than &#8220;Lame Duck&#8221; as pundits rushed to write the epitaph of Obama&#8217;s presidency and agenda. They were convinced that the Obama era was dead [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"So You Thought President Obama Would Be Lame Duck, Did You?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[152,1],"tags":[183,1140,301],"class_list":["post-23872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-election","category-general","tag-barack-obama","tag-election","tag-republicans"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/obama-lame-duck.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-6d2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":33034,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=33034","url_meta":{"origin":23872,"position":0},"title":"Obama Reveals His Halloween Nightmare In Hilarious Interview With Samantha Bee","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/1\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"While the media is busy ignoring frightening reports of Donald Trump's alliance with Russia, President Obama is ducking past the hacks that populate much of the electronic press. To that end he granted an interview to comedian Samantha Bee on Monday for her TBS program, Full Frontal. The discussion touched\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Obama Samantha Bee","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/obama-bee.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/obama-bee.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/obama-bee.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1106,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1106","url_meta":{"origin":23872,"position":1},"title":"Fox VP: Sen McCain&#8217;s Quest For The Presidency Is Over","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/25\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of days ago Ashley Todd, a John McCain campaign worker, reported to the police that she had been beaten and robbed by an African-American supporter of Barack Obama because of her political affiliation. The story was widely disseminated throughout the media with the help of the McCain communications\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7837,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7837","url_meta":{"origin":23872,"position":2},"title":"Press Pussies? Fox Nation Resorts To Profanity To Attack Obama And The Press","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/22\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A story today on Fox Nation featured a headline that other news organizations might have considered obscene: Press Pussies Soft on Obama. For the Fox Nationalists, obscenity is no barrier to another opportunity to smear the President. Anyone who doesn't believe that Fox deliberately chose to use profane language that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9645,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=9645","url_meta":{"origin":23872,"position":3},"title":"GOP Calls For Impeachment Of President Hillary Clinton","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/12\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Vowing to get an early start on efforts to remove Hillary Clinton from the White House, Republican leaders in congress have announced their intention to hold hearings on what they claim are the high crimes and misdemeanors that Hillary Clinton will commit once she assumes the presidency in January of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hillary Clinton WTF","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/clinton-impeach1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8267,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8267","url_meta":{"origin":23872,"position":4},"title":"Debate Topic: Romney Win Would Be A Mandate For Torture Per UN Official","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/21\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Tomorrow's presidential debate will be focusing on foreign policy. Instead of wasting 90 minutes on shallow disputes over out-of-context soundbites and arguments over who gets credit\/blame for events that only tangentially reflect on the office of the presidency, the public would be better served if there was a substantive discussion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8274,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8274","url_meta":{"origin":23872,"position":5},"title":"Mitt Romney: Taking America Back To The Future &#8211; Horses And Bayonets And All","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/23\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The final debate of the 2012 presidential campaign is history, which is ironic because that's where Mitt Romney appears to want to lead America. There was almost nothing that Romney said that described a vision for the future of America. The entire focus of his remarks centered on either what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23872"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23909,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23872\/revisions\/23909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}