After six and a half years of domestic political frustration and foreign-policy disillusionment, the Administration of President Barack Obama has finally opened a legacy window of serious opportunity. More than just black-precedent-in-the-White-House asterisk.
It was that kind of memorable week for the president, one that now portends an upgraded retrospective from historians.
It began with the president getting his fast-track trade authority package, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, through Congress. The one dominated by Republican naysayers. The one where, ironically, the key “yea” votes came from a handful of pro-trade Dems who met separately with the president, who kept them in line. It was a huge win for Obama, whose forte has not been behind-the-scenes politicking.
Then came “Scotuscare,” according to poor-loser Justice Anthony Scalia.
By a 6-3 majority, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to preserve the health insurance subsidies available under the president’s signature health law. The ruling left little room for future challenges, if not Republican presidential-candidate carping about death panels.
President Obama was more than willing to acknowledge vindication now that the Supreme Court–for a second time–had affirmed the legality of a key part of the Affordable Care Act. The president was right to assert that the decision now institutionalizes the ACA as a logical extension of Social Security and Medicare.
Wire photos of the president fist-bumping chief of staff Denis McDonough were front-page fodder across the country. It was as close as he got to spiking the political football,
But there was no mistaking the importance and impact of his victory. And it was “his.” The disloyal opposition and enabling media underscored that with its “Obamacare” labeling.
Then came the Court’s 5-4 vote to recognize same-sex marriage in all the states.
The White House had lobbied for fairness and the “right side of history.” The meteoric change in public opinion doesn’t happen without the ultimate bully pulpit weighing in.
And who knows how an African-American president leading “Amazing Grace” in Charleston will play out across the annals of history. It may become a seminal moment in American race relations. The message–the response of hope to hate in the darkest of times–was pitch perfect and delivered by a man still being forged by a racial crucible.
And Barack Obama–to use an appropriate analogy for this nation’s chief executive–is still early in his presidency’s 4th quarter.