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Just as every person has a finite amount of money in the bank, there is also such a thing as "political capital" and a politician must choose carefully how it i
by hellofunk 11y ago
Just as every person has a finite amount of money in the bank, there is also such a thing as "political capital" and a politician must choose carefully how it is spent, because you cannot spend it well on many things. Obama used most of his political capital to overhaul healthcare, that was his top issue and it took years and years to do it. Now that it is more or less set in stone, he's finally had the opportunity in the last couple years to look at other important items to him, namely climate change (for which he also did some important policy-making work), guns, immigration, and the prison system. It is not easy to make sweeping changes to any major policy, and even getting one big thing done in 8 years is hard to do in the current political climate.
- tempodox 11y agoGetting _anything_ done in this administration is nothing short of a miracle.
- enraged_camel 11y agoExactly right. No single administration in recent history has seen so much vitriol and tooth-and-nail resistance from the opposing party in Congress as Obama. The GOP went so far as to shut down the government to try to make sure Obama didn't get his way. Don't get me wrong: Obama is definitely not without flaws. But I think history will remember him very kindly. The man has extraordinary patience and has proven time and again that he can remain mature and civil in the face of untold amounts of immature tantrums from the opposition.
- hellofunk 11y agoI have read that the political tension in Washington is at its highest level since the U.S. civil war.
- pdeuchler 11y agoFunny how the administration got the drone program through and sheltered the NSA without any problems though. At least you have the ACA, where the administration had to fight tooth and nail against a hostile right to get what they wanted. Oh wait, no, they compromised on almost everything and still passed it without a single Republican vote. Weird how that narrative doesn't actually hold up when you examine the issues.