With little time left in office, President Obama has been aggressively pushing through
controversial legislation, like the Iran Nuclear Deal and Immigration Reform.
Many presidents in their final terms pull back and avoid intense political issues, or
use the opportunity to achieve their most idealistic goals.
President Obama has been accused of both, as a Lame Duck president.
So what is a Lame Duck?
And does Obama fit the BILL?
Well, a “Lame Duck” is an elected official who won’t be re-elected to office, but still
must serve out the remainder of their term.
The label applies to any second term president, but is especially relevant after an opposing
candidate wins the election.
From that time until the new Candidate takes over in January, a Lame Duck president has
just a few months to wrap up their plans.
Usually this isn’t long enough to get anything else significant done, and so other officials
are less interested in working with them.
The label, “lame duck” first emerged in the 18th century as a reference to a person
weakened by debt.
But by the 19th century, the term’s meaning morphed to apply to elected officials who
were politically weakened by their approaching term limits.
An example of a politically weak lame duck president is Herbert Hoover in the 1930s.
He couldn’t improve depression-era conditions at the end of his term because everyone was
waiting instead for FDR’s federal overhaul.
As a result, the American economy languished, and Hoover was widely hated during his time
as a lame duck.
However, in modern times, lame duck presidents have found ways to use the position to their
advantage.
They have great power to make unpopular decisions since they’re not seeking re-election.
President Obama has been using this role to ambitiously pursue democratic policy changes
and to leave a lasting legacy.
In fact, Obama has been so successful as a lame duck president that some suggest he’s
completely redefining the label.
In his second term, he’s been behind several victories for liberal policies including the
Affordable Healthcare Act, Immigration reform and Same Sex Marriage.
He’s also been on “the offense” towards the Republican-dominated congress.
Though his use of the presidential veto has been infrequent, he’s recently threatened
to use it to defend Climate Change legislation, and deny the Keystone Pipeline.
Obama has also facilitated the congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Agreement, and he’s been instrumental in increased diplomatic ties towards Cuba and
Iran.
In the past few years he’s aggressively defended his legislation with unheard of success
for a lame duck president.
If you want to know more about what Obama could legally accomplish in his last year
of office, check out this video on what legal powers
the president has.
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