Obama’s Agenda

I have been polite for long enough, is what American President Barack Obama must be thinking. Now, he no longer has a political majority; he is single-handedly pushing his own agenda.

Traditionally, at the end of his second term, an American president is what is called a “lame duck.” It is common for him to no longer hold a political majority in Congress and to struggle with every political initiative. This has been the golden rule ever since Ronald Reagan assumed office in the 1980s. It does not seem that matters will be any different for Obama.

Curiously, it appears that Obama, at the very least, wants to break with this tradition. Whatever he is able to execute without Congress’ support, he seems to want to realize — and fast.

Last week saw the first trial of strength, when the president passed a temporary regulation for undocumented immigrants. The bill had been stuck in Congress for some time, and Republican opponents did not seem to be in a rush to shed more light on the fate of millions of Latinos who have to live and work in the U.S. under difficult conditions.

Obama’s next step was firing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, the last remaining Republican in the Obama administration. Officially, this was about a difference of opinion as to what strategy to follow against the Islamic State group’s terrorism. This is plausible, but it is not the first time that Obama and his secretary of defense have had a difference of opinion. Firing Hagel signals that Obama has abandoned any hope of cooperating with his political opponents.

The American president still has some plans left. In the battle against global warming, among others, he still has some initiatives at the ready, and the fact that the nuclear negotiations with Iran were not a complete failure is also something that the White House can consider a plus.

Obama is opportunely using the internal discord among the Republicans, whose biggest common agenda point is to get rid of him as quickly as possible. They failed to accomplish this during the previous presidential elections in 2012. In 2016, Obama will no longer be accountable to anyone; the political way has truly opened up for him.

The American president is, however, very much on his own. During the previous midterm elections, his own party preferred to avoid him, but even a lonely American president still has a lot of power left, the limits of which he is currently testing.

Strangely enough, his doing so will allow him to realize more political agenda points than he has in the last four years. No longer having to maneuver between the Democrats and Republicans, he is able to set his own pace.

Obama’s political demarche has stirred up a lot of resentment among the Republicans. They are threatening countermeasures and laws to put a stop to the president’s initiatives. The question that remains, however, is whether Republicans will be able to overcome their differences. Until this has been achieved, the president will be able to continue to fly solo. For the United States, this is an unusual situation, but there are no rules that oblige a president to vegetate like a “lame duck” in the White House for two years.