The Journey Continues

Barack Obama (Photo credit: jamesomalley)

President Barack Obama, in his second and final inauguration speech, talked a lot about the United States going through a "journey" of unresolved problems and what he thought were the possibilities of a brighter day for its citizens.

The President began his second term on a day that wasn't as historic as when he first took the oath of office four years ago, but was no less significant.  It happened to fall on a holiday commemorating the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.   For all the unfinished business there is concerning civil rights in this country, one wonders if Dr. King ever foresaw an African-American becoming President, let alone being elected to two terms.

On a couple of occasions during the speech, Obama made statements you never thought you'd hear from a President.  Any President.  Such as the need to do something about global climate change, and that gays and lesbians deserve full human rights.

Now that the war in Afghanistan is winding down and a lingering recession seems to be on the way out, President Obama wants to turn his attention to easing the divisions between himself and Congress.  For that, he faces an uphill battle.

First, there's the looming battle over guns, an issue that wasn't on anybody's radar screen until a month ago.  The President proposed legislation limiting the use of assault rifles and using background checks on all gun owners.  Even after a massacre such as the one in Newtown, Conn., this is going to be a hard sell to members of Congress beholden to the National Rifle Association.  Besides, gun sales have never been better.  Nothing like the perceived threat of government taking away your guns so that only police, the military and criminals can have them to get customers to buy your product.

Second, the ongoing debt crisis.  After the so-called "fiscal cliff" became nothing more than a speed bump, attention turned once again to raising the government debt ceiling by a few trillion dollars to stave off the wolves, as well as to keep the national credit rating tolerable.  Republicans in the House of Representatives, sensing the winds of change are not in their favor, have offered to temporarily raise the ceiling in exchange for some spending cuts.  And when that ends, there'll be another showdown.  Isn't there a way to settle the nation's financial problems without all this drama every few months?

Third, the cabinet appointments.  Pending congressional approval, Obama's new team will include Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, Jacob Lew as treasury secretary, and John Brennan as CIA director.  The problem is that it's not exactly diverse.  Let's see . . . The President wanted Susan Rice to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.  But Republicans have pilloried Rice for saying the wrong things about who was responsible for the September attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi.  Rice withdrew her name without ever having been nominated in the first place.  Instead, the President names Massachusetts senator (and 2004 presidential candidate) John Kerry, who has a pretty good shot at getting confirmed.  And that's why, with the exception of holdover Attorney General Eric Holder, the new Obama cabinet lacks diversity.

There's no telling how much of Obama's agenda will get past a partisan Congress over the next four years.  But if recent history is any guide, there might be some kind of scandal or crisis in a second term that has the potential to tarnish the President's legacy before he leaves office.  Richard Nixon had Watergate.  Ronald Reagan had Iran-contra.  Bill Clinton had Monica Lewinsky.  And George W. Bush had Hurricane Katrina, two wars and an economic meltdown.

President Obama has four more years to complete the journey he began in 2009.  It'll be full of twists and turns, to be sure.  But in the end, we'd all better hope he--and we--find whatever it is he's looking for.