Walter Russell Mead, writing in the New York Daily News, has some thoughts on how the personae of President Obama is shrinking before our eyes and by next year, he may risk being "sidelined and marginalized for the remaining two years of his term." Obama is not, however, prepared to pick up his toys and go home. Stymied in Congress, where a coalition of Republicans and red state Democrats have effectively blocked his major initiatives in both the House and the Senate, the President is determined to use his executive powers to carve out a legacy whether Congress likes it or not. The new EPA regulations to cut CO2 levels from power generators and his decision to sidestep Congress on the release of five Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo in exchange for Sergeant Bergdahl show a White House anything but resigned to the prospect of presidential decline. In both foreign and domestic affairs, Obama has plenty of executive authority to use. Moreover, the signature...(Read Full Post)