Delaware

Nancy LaTourneau pushes back on the notion that Obama has rebounded and seized the narrative with several bold moves recently. She argues that each action has been in the works for over a year....

Every one of the things these pundits name as an example of the President's newfound persona - executive actions on immigration, new EPA rules, climate change agreement with China, Russian sanctions, normalization of our relationship with Cuba - has been in the works for at least the last 1-2 years (during the time he was supposedly a listless, passive spectator). Back in January of this year, he announced his intention to implement the "pen and phone strategy" we're all witnessing unfold. President Barack Obama offered a brief preview Tuesday of his State of the Union address, telling his Cabinet that he won’t wait for Congress to act on key agenda items in 2014. “I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone,” he said at his first Cabinet meeting of the year. Outlining the strategy, Obama said he plans to use his pen to sign executive actions and his phone to convene outside groups in support of his agenda if Congress proves unable or unwilling to act on his priorities. It's true that President Obama might have a new lightness in his step. But that could just as well be because he's finally off for a much-needed vacation in Hawaii with his family. Anyone who has really watched this President operate knows that he plays the long game.

Hi I got a lot of freaking grievances and I’m not going to lie (even though I hate that expression), this is going to be as wildly incoherent as Honey Boo Boo’s fame or how John Atkins (D?, R?, U/E?) was able to get elected multiple times in slower lower. But, these are the times we live in, train wrecks get a voice, and now I give you mine. Choo-fucking-choo bitches. This list is in no particular order and I will attempt to keep it relevant to 2014. 1. That I (we) may never know how John Atkins’ feels about a drunken Ray Rice beating his wife. 3. I was taken out of my father’s will this year after I called him a racist. I blame Obama for this, he has done nothing but divide this country since taking office. He has so clearly shined the light on racists, bigots and ignorant people that when relatives tell me in passing conversation we should just “lock em all up”, “give them all birth control”, “not let those animals breed,” I get upset. I liked it better when I didn’t know that was racism. Thanks Obama. Come inside for more...

Kevin Drum takes a look at what the President's recent moves mean for next year:

All of these things are worthwhile in their own right, of course, but there's a political angle to all of them as well: they seriously mess with Republican heads. GOP leaders had plans for January, but now they may or may not be able to do much about them. Instead, they're going to have to deal with enraged tea partiers insisting that they spend time trying to repeal Obama's actions. They can't, of course, but they have to show that they're trying. So there's a good chance that they'll spend their first few months in semi-chaos, responding to Obama's provocations instead of working on their own agenda. Case in point: Congressional Republicans are now going to have to spend significant time and energy in a Cold War battle with Obama over Cuba policy--one that is likely to end in failure, and that appeals only to a sliver of the U.S. population. After all the interminable stuff we heard in 2014 about the Great Big Adult Republicans getting control over the unruly Tea Folk, I think we'll find that Boehner and McConnell aren't going to easily restrain conservatives with so much chum in the water. The provocation to a feeding frenzy is just becoming way too overpowering.

Greg Sargent also makes the case that Obama's actions are laying the groundwork for a 2016 campaign that places the Democratic candidate (Hillary Clinton) on the right side of history and looking toward the future, and the Republican candidates on the wrong side and stuck in the past.