Washington Post: Reports on the myths of 2nd term lame duck Presidents, and has this advice for President Obama, " Indeed, many lame-duck presidents facing congressional majorities of the opposite party still have achieved successes that boosted their political fortunes and long-term reputations. But they’ve usually done so by tacking more to the center than playing to their base. Obama would be well advised to pursue such a strategy today. "
Lets Get Real:
Ever since the Reagan Presidency ALL 2nd Term Presidents have wanted to be a Reagan, the one that got close was Bill Clinton, thus how does this blog grade 2nd termers, simple really, who is their successor, in the case of Reagan it was Bush 41, this showed that the Reagan Era had the support of a majority of Americans, if not then the Democratic nominee would have won the election. This blog would argue that Clinton got close because his VP, AL Gore won the popular vote but lost his home State, if he had kept a eye on his own State as President Clinton told him then he would have won the Presidency. Both Presidents, Reagan and Clinton had a VP who wanted to run after them and they supported their VP for the top job. That is not always the case, lets recall the famous or infamous remark by President Eisenhower when reporters asked him what had Nixon done in the two terms, the President stated if they gave him a week he would think of something, hardly helpful. But at least Eisenhower, Reagan and Clinton were not afraid to have a VP who wanted the job, both Bush 43 and Obama had Vice Presidents that were not a threat to them in the long term, they would not go off the reservation if it helped them in political terms. Both Bush 41 and Gore needed some distance between themselves and the boss, with Bush 41 it was Iran - Contra and with Gore it was the affair that Bill Clinton had with an intern, the added problem for Gore was the view that Clinton was a negative on the campaign trail, that was not the case with Reagan. Thus they ALL want to be the Gipper, few get close but none are really the Gipper.
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