So What's Left

++I didn't have much expectations for the second Obama term but the last week basically gave me enough of what I had wanted.

++On Climate Change, the Presidents edicts on the coal-plants was significant in and of themselves. The agreement with China,the other great polluter,is beyond significant in that it paves the way for a possible global agreement next year. I await his executive orders due next week.

++On immigration, I had wanted the whole thing in some version of the Senate bill. It would have made reforming the system easier. I'll take executive actions. Harry Reid tonight wanted President Obama to delay his immigration orders. I think enough is enough.

++Linda Greenhouse today in her NYTimes blog made me shudder about SCOTUS possible evisceration of Obama care. Grubergate only fuels the anxiety with a Republican Congress just aiming for it. For me personally, premiums went down 40% since last year and I still can cover my son. I just want to make it to Medicare  before Paul Ryan vouchers it. 

++I want the Torture Report released. If it isn't in the lame duck session it never will be. Activists have urged Mark Udall leak it before he leaves office. I hope so.Former Republican Senator and later presidential candidate Mike Gravel who did a similar thing on Vietnam volunteered to tell Udall how to do it without legal repercussions.

++Closing Gitmo still ranks as a concern of mine. The longer it stays open,the worse the image around the world as the United Nations still can't understand why it is open.

++I doubt anything will be done with the NSA, now that their biggest fans are back.

++This brings me to the deal on the Iranian nuclear program. President Obama says he would rather have no deal, rather than a bad deal. There is some indication, especially in a conversation with Vladimir Putin in Asia that the international community is all on board for the final push. This week it is likely the Senate will pass a resolution condemning the deal and asking for more sanctions. I've argued before that this would be premature and would actually threaten the sanctions regime in place by other countries. In other words,if there is a deal and the United States won't take it, what would ever satisfy you guys? The international community won't hang around much longer.

++President Obama is teed up to put in motion all the remaining initiatives of his last term before the new Congress comes in. I believe he is steadying himself to the full onslaught of the GOP and will spend his last two years defending what he has achieved. And for my money,that has been a lot.

++The unfortunate change has been the return of Iraq 3.0 and the war on ISIS.