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From the article: "Mr. Obama was acutely aware of the risks of being seen as handcuffing the security agencies. 'Whatever reforms he makes, you can be sure if t

From the article: "Mr. Obama was acutely aware of the risks of being seen as handcuffing the security agencies. 'Whatever reforms he makes, you can be sure if there’s another incident — and the odds are there will be in our history — there’ll be someone on CNN within seconds saying if the president hadn’t hamstrung the intelligence community, this wouldn’t have happened,' Mr. Axelrod said." And so, the wheel keeps turning...

zephjc 13y ago
If theres ever a time to do the right thing, it's in the President's second term: it's all downhill, what the pundits say doesn't matter to re-electability, since there is none (unless you plan on going to another office later on...)
- privong 13y ago
  > (unless you plan on going to another office later on...) Just curious, has a president ever done that?
  - ForHackernews 13y ago
    Yes. William Taft went on to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court after being President: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft Reportedly, he hated being President and wished he'd never done it, but loved being a judge.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - triangleman 13y ago
    Famously, John Quincy Adams served in the House for nine terms (17 years) after his single term as president, where he spent most of his time fighting to abolish slavery.
  - noarchy 13y ago
    Andrew Johnson won election to the Senate shortly before his death, in 1875. This was after several attempts to win political office in his post-Presidency years had failed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson#Post-presidency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson#Post-presidency
- danielweber 13y ago
  If the President wants to accomplish anything in his second term -- which is the point of holding the office -- than he still needs to maintain popular support. The public can't (generally) vote him out of office any more, but they can vote out his allies in the House or local/state government. Unless the President is just hoping to shut everything down. Almost by definition he can do that without cooperation.

zephjc 13y ago

If theres ever a time to do the right thing, it's in the President's second term: it's all downhill, what the pundits say doesn't matter to re-electability, since there is none (unless you plan on going to another office later on...)

privong 13y ago
> (unless you plan on going to another office later on...) Just curious, has a president ever done that?
- ForHackernews 13y ago
  Yes. William Taft went on to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court after being President: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft Reportedly, he hated being President and wished he'd never done it, but loved being a judge.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- triangleman 13y ago
  Famously, John Quincy Adams served in the House for nine terms (17 years) after his single term as president, where he spent most of his time fighting to abolish slavery.
- noarchy 13y ago
  Andrew Johnson won election to the Senate shortly before his death, in 1875. This was after several attempts to win political office in his post-Presidency years had failed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson#Post-presidency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson#Post-presidency
danielweber 13y ago
If the President wants to accomplish anything in his second term -- which is the point of holding the office -- than he still needs to maintain popular support. The public can't (generally) vote him out of office any more, but they can vote out his allies in the House or local/state government. Unless the President is just hoping to shut everything down. Almost by definition he can do that without cooperation.