MAN OF THE YEAR: BARACK OBAMA

++On Face the Nation, Stephen Colbert said 2015 had been a very sad year. For me, it has been horrendous. But my local grocer said that President Obama had crushed the year.

++Before the rightwing Wurlitzer starts again, Let me just summarize the year from the view of Obama's accomplishments. 

++Let's talk about international agreements. The bilateral agreement with China on the climate set up the Paris agreement, which is really a big deal agreed to by 200 nations. President Obama and John Kerry with his team got an Iranian nuclear deal, which no one thought possible. Today we have news that Iran is sending its uranium to Russia as the deal starts to take effect. Through years of negotiation and diplomacy,the President finished the Transpacific Partnership or the TPP agreement, the largest free trade agreement in history.

++President Obama through secret channels and Pope Francis normalized Cuban relations,the biggest change in 50 years. Even now,Americans can fly commercial to Havana. The rest of the world thought we were crazy all these years. Part of the economic embargo will be lifted but the rest depends on Congress.

++President Obama created more national parks,including the largest Marine sanctuary, than any other president in history. 

++President Obama established new regulations for power plants and accelerated fuel efficiency and the use of alternative energy.

++President Obama signed executive orders for gay rights in federal jobs. With his department of Justice arguing the case, the Supreme Court decided on the constitutionality of same sex marriage. 

++President Obama signed executive orders on immigration that are still contested in the courts.

++President Obama pledged America to accept 20,000 Syrian refugees in the next two years,despite an intense reaction.

++President Obama vetoed the Keystone XL Pipeline. However, America regained its position after fifty years of being the world's largest producer of oil and gas.

++The United States has 5% unemployment,almost half the figure at the height of the depression. The U-6 rate is moving back into line so the economy looks like it is normalizing.

++For all of the above reasons, President Obama deserves to be Man of the Year.

++He hasn't fallen into the second term malaise as most of his other predecessors. And, for all the noise, his administration has been scandal free. Or some say he manages scandal better than others. 

++Just by definition, he is in a lame duck status in his last year. However, he urged his White House staff to remain on the offensive. He anticipates trying to pass the TPP in Congress this year,make reforms in our justice system and push for a solution to Puerto Rico's debt crisis. And probably he will spend his waning days on Syria.

++Now it seems the Pentagon is having a tantrum over his desire to close Gitmo. But he will get close to having less than 100 detainees left.

++Paul Krugman had written two years ago that President Obama had been a consequential president. This past year has yielded results that are equivalent to the first two years of legislative triumph.

++While he still lags behind others in executive actions,we have to remember all of them are subject to review and retraction. For instance if a Republican should win the White House,the ban on torture would be one of the first to go.

++Since I'm writing this from memory,I forgot that he has commuted more sentences than any other President just this year.