Obama And The Second Term Curse

There is some historical basis for this, although that may not be relevant to this presidency.

For presidents, practice apparently doesn’t make perfect.

Those who win re-election can claim what would seem to be an invaluable asset: Four years of on-the-job training for one of the most demanding posts in the world. Yet the second terms of modern presidents typically are remembered for assorted catastrophes. Richard Nixon resigned. Ronald Reagan became enmeshed in the Iran-contra scandal. Bill Clinton was impeached. George W. Bush was buffeted first by Katrina and then by a cascading financial crisis.

The difference here, of course, is that no president in history has had the press shield him the way this one does. Even when things are falling apart around him it is never reported as such. The good money is on any looming second term curse debacles dutifully being blamed on Republicans by the main stream media.

Here’s the laugh line:

As President Obama prepares for next week’s inauguration, he acknowledges the cautionary history. “I’m more than familiar with all the literature about presidential overreach in second terms,” he told reporters at a White House news conference after his re-election.

Given his penchant for Executive Orders, one presumes he’s studied presidential overreach because he wants to take it to the next level.