OBAMA HAS WORST YEAR IN WASHINGTON

SAITH The Washington Post

++My candidate is Rafael "Ted" Cruz. He shut the government down costing the American taxpayer hundreds of millions to defund Obamacare, and just blew his demand the Senate should condemn President Obama's executive order on immigration. The result was approval of 24 Obama nominees since Harry Reid outmaneuvered him with a parliamentary procedure. Both stunts cost him dearly with the GOP establishment.

++But as Warner Wolf used to say, "Let's go to the videotape" about President Obama's year.

++This is just from my memory.
    --He created the largest national park in the pacific.
    -- He created at least four more in continental America.
    -- The EPA adopted regulations curbing green house emissions from coal-burning power plants. The most far-reaching restrictions under the Clean Air Act.
    --He reached an historic agreement with China over climate change.
    --His administration got a decent, not great agreement in Lima on climate change.
    --Obamacare now has reached 50% of last year's enrollment ,according to Charles Gaba, at this early stage.
   --The year saw the strongest job creation since the 1990s.
   --There was no inflation. 
   --Gas prices fell to levels not seen since the time of the Depression number 2.
   --The Dow flirted with 18,000,about 10,000 more than he first came in office.
   --Afghanistan held an election which led to most of troops leaving and Obama reached a Force Agreement, which will leave troops behind.
   --Obama held the first US-Africa Summit.
   --Obama moved quickly on the Ebola situation and only one American--a doctor in Maryland--died. The other death was a Liberian in Dallas.
   --Obama led the international response to Ebola by sending troops to the region.
   --A pro-Western government came to power in the Ukraine. Yes, Putin got the Crimea but President Obama revitalized NATO and led the sanctions against Russia, which has led to the collapse of Russia's economy.
   --Obama committed regime change in Iraq and encouraged the selection of a moderate Shi'ite Prime Minister.
   --The Iranian nuclear talks continue with the restrictions against further enrichment in place.
   --President Obama made some in-roads to his pivot to Asia, finally completing a long-delayed trip to the region.

++I am sure I have forgotten a lot but I can't say that warrants "the worst" of anything. 

++Besides Cruz, I would nominate the Democratic Party as having the worst year. Steve Israel's depressing campaign for House Democrats ranks as a bummer. The Bannock Project flopped to preserve the Democratic majority in the Senate. The effect of its failure is that 2016 prospects for a return to majority is very dim.

++By and large, President Obama made out OK this year, leaving behind several targets which the GOP majority will shoot at in the next two years.

++In spite of winning the elections, the GOP may be the biggest losers because they ran a stealth campaign hiding what they really think and believe. The exit polls and subsequent polling show the American people actually support the ideas of the democrats. That is going to be tremendous hurdle for the GOP in the 2016 Presidential election.

Sort of Good News

++Trying to shake the D.C. winter and the mood.

++Papantonio: Hobby Lobby is DOA. This was posted on DailyKos by a blogger named "Man from Wasichustan". The gist of the post is that when a corporation becomes a real person and is granted favors or exemptions for the owners' beliefs, this spells the end of corporate indemnity, which is one of the reasons you incorporate in the first place. The Guardian has a piece about this yesterday so legal beagles are ready to pounce if this decision goes the wrong way.

++Washington Monthly has a piece this morning that basically sums up the religious right's new strategy. They concede same-sex marriage and the other changes in our society but want to use the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to legally segregate themselves from American society. Hobby Lobby is one of those ways to do this.

++Torture Report. Senator Feinstein says that a vote on the Torture Report will occur April 3. The Senate Committee added 100 pages to the executive summary and it now runs in the excess of 6,300 pages. Buried in the McClatchy article on the deliberations is this stunner--All the Republican members of the committee have boycotted the investigation and the preparation of the talk. Tom Coburn said that the Republicans would issue a response to the full report like they did on Iran-Contra. Senator Collins is reportedly concerned that the report could be used for "partisan purposes".

Dick Cheney said about torture--"He would do it again if he had to."

++If you have wondered what Democrats are going to do about the mid-term fallout, there is the Bannock Street Project.This is so named because it is based in Colorado at Michael Bennet's headquarters  on that street. The DSSC has spent $40 million to launch a 10 State data-given operation and an aggressive voter registration drive and a Get Out The Vote effort this year.

++Chris Christie was found innocent by his own lawyers,who also contribute to his campaign. The taxpayer funded review blamed everyone ,including his political enemies. The federal investigation and the New Jersey Legislature haven't concluded their investigations.