The Mire

++Add to the other subjects this month is the trade authority. Paul Ryan is claiming the GOP with twenty Democrats will give Obama fast track authority. I'm not quite at the Stink the Roof off the House stage but the critics are coming in fast and furious. 

++All unions are against it. The progressive Democrats led by Senator Warren are against it. Environmentalist and human rights activists are against it. 

++It is a hard sell even if it turns out to be good because we have no models of free trade agreements working to the United States' benefit.

++Then President Obama is stuck in the detritus from the Middle East. My deepest concern is that the Middle East will re-emerge as a war issue again after it looked like it had been killed around 2013. To see the actors involved in such a disaster re-emerge as "credible" voices for policy alternatives is galling and will cast a cloud over Obama's last year in office.

++I know it is wishful thinking but if President Obama could remove himself and the discussion away from security issues we would be better off as a country. We are simply not able to accept a honest critique of America in the world without a jingoistic blowback.

++The best I could wish for is that the war against ISIS, which has never been voted on yet,keeps rumbling along with no dramatic breakthroughs. Let someone else deal with the mess. With the exception of Rand Paul, every republican is for invading Iraq for a third time. This reminds me of Doug Bandow at Cato's column about how the Washington punditry urge the same thing over and over again even though it fails every time. 

++Obama is now almost in damage control to save as much of his agenda as possible. Expect a full court press by the courts to try and stop both Obamacare and immigration reform. Also expect the GOP to press for Obama to make the move and send ground forces to the Middle East, a grave, grave error. Also expect any Iran nuclear deal to be subverted by Congress and even the Iranians themselves. 

++I expect more EPA regulations like the one the last week on streams and small rivers. I expect a full court press by the administration for a UN Climate Change Accord. But he has lost Bill McKibben in allowing Shell to drill in the Arctic. 

++I also expect that the debate will continue about the economy. I don't expect a recession until the Republican budget is passed and ,of course, it will be Obama's fault. 

++He has laid the ground work for a Democratic successor and with the security issue outstanding I expect Hillary will be the nominee because of her hawkishness. 

++The most interesting thing to me is how the Cuba issue just putters along without drawing any challenge.

++But the new security consensus looks strangely like the old one--marrying neo-conservatives and liberal interventionists. Both are recipes for ruin.