Politics
Obama second term bogged down with politics, local issues and external conflicts
Rows over National Security Agency (NSA) eavesdropping programs exposed by fugitive leaker Edward Snowden have meanwhile consumed presidential energy.
And Obama is known to be frustrated that a clutch of political scandals — which he sees as frivolous — have whipped up media outrage and forged an opening for Republicans.
He is said to chafe at critiques of his incapacity to bend Congress to his will, and out-of-context comparisons to legislative alchemists such as ex-president Lyndon Johnson.
“Barack Obama is in a slump,” said Peter Brown, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, unveiling data showing the president’s approval rating had dipped to 44 percent.
Obama’s rating on foreign policy, a strength during last year’s election, hit a lot at 40 percent, as he struggled to keep pace with carnage in Syria and a coup in Egypt.
Obama had hoped that a thumping election victory would break the “fever” he diagnosed in a Republican Party dedicated to thwarting his presidency.
Some hope.
