Le paradoxe Obama

 Une présidence écoulée aux deux tiers et un président qui s'impatiente...

 "After Obama won a convincing reelection, White House officials were certain Republicans would feel pressure to work with them on issues ranging from immigration, to deficit reduction, to gun control. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel crowed to White House aides that pushing an immigration bill through Congress would be like “falling off of a log.’’ At his annual dinner with historians, days before the second inaugural, attendees said in interviews that it had been years since they’d seen Obama so buoyant. Yet the depiction of a president who had gotten his comeuppance in 2013 overlooks a more complex reality. In phone calls and private asides, it fell to the president to take on the role of internal motivator, reminding Cabinet secretaries and senior aides, discouraged after a year that produced no major achievements, that the presidency is “the most powerful force on the planet,” and it was time that they get back to treating it that way.

 It was classic Obama, who is usually at his sharpest while trying to claw out of a major hole. As Denis McDonough, Obama’s chief of staff, said in an interview, “Hungry tiger fights best right now, and he is one hungry dude. You feel it, and you can’t help but kind of get into that even if you are going through the pretty grim days of October and November.’’

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/the-obama-paradox-107304_Page2.html