Obama’s final year to test presidential powers

The last year of a US presidency can be a pitiful thing.

 

Many a commander-in-chief who bestrode Washington like a political Colossus can struggle to command much at all. New crises erupt, and victories won in the spring of an administration unexpectedly provoke a winter of discontent.

In their final years, George W. Bush watched the economy fall off a cliff, Ronald Reagan was ensnared by the Iran-Contra scandal, Bill Clinton was impeached and Woodrow Wilson had a stroke.

 

For Obama, a long-avoided morass in Syria and a costly quagmire in Iraq may come to define 2016, as fears grow about the threat from the Islamic State group.

 

But Obama has offered Americans an alternative vision for his own eighth and final year in the Oval Office.

 

“I’ve never been more optimistic about a year ahead than I am right now,” he said before heading to Hawaii for an end of year family vacation.

 

Read More: Obama’s final year to test presidential powers – Yahoo News