Presdent Obama: Sink or swim?

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t has come to the final two years of Mr.Obama’s presidency and no one would deny it has been a struggle. Republicans have attempted to block his every move, at one point their refusal to cooperate literally causing the shutdown of the federal government. Furthermore, as of late the rest of the population are also turning against him, firstly because he foolishly allowed Ebola to happen and secondly because he is being held personally responsible for the threat of ISIS. Excellent job American public. Your logic is unfounded and utterly incomprehensible as always.

However recent midterm elections have delivered a republican majority in both the House and the Senate, this has led many political commentators to state that popular or not Obama has his hands tied. Thus he may as well find a hobby because America is going to be in a state of political paralysis for his remaining time in office. In political terms, he has become a lame duck.

On the other hand some have argued that Obama could pursue modest reforms, palatable enough to the Republicans that they might just cooperate. In addition they argue that it is perhaps even a good thing that the republicans now have control of congress, their increased power also bringing increased responsibility for they have to have something to show the American public in two years time. Then again, rationally the best call for the Republicans with regards to winning the presidency in 2016 is probably to make Obama look as bad as possible. Also, a wing of the Republican Party called the Tea party faction is widely considered rather irrational and no other reason than a general dislike of Obama could possibly prevent them from cooperating over anything. 

To sum up, things do not look good for Mr. O.

However, there is a third course of action. Obama could decide he will not accept his lame duck destiny, nor will he kowtow to congress, instead he will begin to utilise a number of

Front Right: Republican Speaker John Boehner

presidential powers and take matters into his own hands. These powers are called executive orders and they allow the president to bring in temporary reforms, although because they are not supported by legislation they can be reversed by subsequent presidents. They are also criticised for side stepping congress and putting too much power into the hands of the president. Consequently if Obama does decide to follow this route, congress will go crazy, or crazier. 

Nevertheless there are clear signs that it is indeed the path that Obama has chosen. He recently brought in drastic immigration reforms that will allow parents of American born illegal immigrants to apply for work permits lasting for up to 3 years. Prominent Republican John Boehner has accused Obama of acting like a ‘king or an emperor’ and 17 state governors are trying to sue him for it. However the fact of the matter is, there are currently 11 million immigrants in the US, this proposal could help up to 4 million of them. When people question what will happen if the next president overturns Obama’s executive order, he responds by saying that there is safety in numbers. Thus he is evidently hoping that the amount of migrants that stand to benefit from the reform will help protect it. Furthermore, the majority are Hispanics, a key voting demographic, therefore it is unlikely that a future president would risk alienating such a group.

In addition to immigration reforms there are hints that Obama plans to take other big steps to carve out his legacy. These include the closing of Guantanamo Bay, where there is mass force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strike, of which 48 of the remaining 79 were cleared for release years ago. Obama passed an executive order in 2009 but congress banned transferring prisoners to US soil. However through tactics such as shrinking the prison population to the smallest size possible Obama hopes to force congress to weaken their restrictions.

Overall it seems to me that rather than a lame duck we have a president who is suddenly gained a second wind. He has already made groundbreaking immigration reforms and if he succeeds in closing Guantanamo Bay will have a legacy to be proud of.  It may be tough but don’t give up yet Mr. O, there’s still hope!

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Header photo: flickr / mirsasha

Body photo: flickr / SpeakerBoehner