Certainly was quite a week for Barack Hussein Obama. In 2010, when ACA seemed all but dead, somehow it got resurrected and signed. So since that time, I just don't put much past this guy in terms of achieving what he sets out to do. And what is somewhat curious is that just when he seems to be "out for the count" "BAM". Everyone expecting a long 2012 election night. Done by 10pm EST. White House Press Correspondents Dinner one night, Bin Laden DEAD the next.
When I think of BHO, I think of Mohammed Ali, Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
So this week, POTUS ends up with:
1. TPP Fast Track (I don't agree btw)
2. ACA affirmed AGAIN including by Chief Justice Roberts
3. SCOTUS declaring for marriage equality
THEN...
Those three events alone are enough for most ENTIRE presidencies, and I haven't even included Cuban relations, the economy, and a framework w Iran . Beyond that, the President travels to Charleston, SC and delivers a eulogy for the ages complete with revival meeting solo rendition of Amazing Grace woven into the speech. He had Don Lemon of CNN weak in the knees, on camera no less.
I recall watching an interview w candidate Obama, where he was asked about his admiration for Ronald Reagan. In an interview with the Reno Gazette Editorial Board,
Obama said, " I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what's different are the times. I do think that for example the 1980 was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it...."
As I watched that, I was a bit disturbed by this "admiration" for a president and presidency which, in my estimation, initiated the steep downward spiral for the America I loved, the opportunity for the middle class America, the America of John F. Kennedy.
However, I am thinking lately that Obama's comment had little to do with the actual policies of Reagan, and more with the "audacity" of what Reagan did. The sheer scale of the transformation of American society Reagan had put in motion. A transformation that continues to reverberate today. After all, Obama, as a community organizer in the 80's, experienced first hand the effects of Reagan's domestic policy. Did Obama set out on an equally audacious course to reverse the Reagan agenda and be just as transformative? Perhaps re-set the course that had been diverted by Reagan? AND have the audacity of attempting this as a black man?
Beyond accepting a president with a middle name of Hussein, has Barack Obama's transformation of America been to never accept an "ordinary" president again?