Seems like we've heard an awful lot about second term Presidents and their narrow window for getting anything done before lame duckitude sets in. Obama's in the middle of a pretty important fight over whether or not you will ever get to retire. And yet here we are watching him spend all of his chips early in 2013 on gun control.
Of course we'll all probably benefit from stronger gun laws. At the same time, I'm under no illusion that the President's proposal is going to end the recurring episodes of violence like the one that precipitated this discussion in the first place. We'd be better off with it but maybe not at the political cost incurred by the effort to pass it.
Picking this fight now fires up the crazies and rallies the opposition just in time for it to be extra ornery when the much more crucial debt ceiling debate. If second term Presidents really do have limited capital to spend, I'm not so sure Obama is using his wisely.
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