The Obama era is over. The presidency continues.

A listless summer is the clearest sign that Obama has lost the clout needed to move his agenda

Obama
(Image credit: (Molly Riley-Pool/Getty Images))

Just in time for the season's final barbecue, President Obama last week backed off his promise (threat?) to "do something" about immigration reform by the end of the summer if Congress failed to send him a bill addressing the issue. He needs more time, we're told.

It's a dumb and uneventful conclusion to a dumb, uneventful summer in Washington politics. Obama's promise to rewrite America's immigration law through a mixture of executive fiat and a kind of officious neglect may have been calculated to incite a GOP freakout, a summer of polarizing impeachment rage, or a self-defeating government shutdown. Untrue to form, the GOP somehow missed the chance to score an own-goal ahead of midterm elections.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.