Summary Of President Obama's Second-Term Curse

This article talks about the second-term curse; the perceived tendency of second terms of recent U.S presidents to be less successful than their first terms. According to the "curse", the second terms of recent presidents have usually been plagued by a major scandal, policy inertia, some sort of catastrophe, or other problems. In the article “Second Chances”, the author suggests some ideas about how President Obama can avoid a unsuccessful second-term. He talks about the failures of George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and most recently George W. Bush, who were the victims of the ‘curse’ and by looking at these two-term stars, he explains how and why Obama might be more blessed than cursed. In his article “ Triumphant Obama Faces New Foe in ‘Second-Term Curse’ ”, Adam Clymer also lists
various failures and issues presidents have came across in their second terms, but he does not forget to mention that these problems overshadow the good things presidents have done when they were re-elected. Clymer gives various insights into why presidents may face problems in their second-terms, such as lack of new ideas or loss of a key cabinet member. According to Amar, all 4 of the president who was successful on their second-terms (Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronal Reagan) despite the curse, had something in common.
They succeeded with help from a political heir, a loyal lieutenant. By contrast, presidents who kept their vice presidents and wing mans at a distance were more likely to be ‘cursed’. So the first thing author suggests to Obama is even if he can not succeed himself in 2016, he can chose a proxy to replace him. Secondly, Obama has the advantage of being young. Amar believes he can use his youth to stay involved with politics. Another thing the author believes is Obama needs to go bold and big with his ideas to find a legacy for himself. To sum it up, Amar believes that President Obama’s second term does not have to be filled with problems and the outlook of the future is bright for the president. Adam Clymer agrees with Amar. They both state that although Obama will have problems in the future, he does not have to be known as a lame duck president in his second term and his fate rests in his own
hands. On the other side, in his article “Beware Obama’s Big Ideas”, Tim Cavanaugh, who is completely skeptical of President Obama’s second term, focuses completely on the negatives of Obama’s time in office. He addresses his lack of regard for congressional authorization and criticizes him for thoughts of new ideas. Cavanaugh thinks that because of President Obama’s past failures, there is no chance he will have a successful second term. In conclusion, all 3 of the articles have some strong points as well as weak. While Clymer and Amar list many examples of presidents who succeeded in their second terms in the past, Cavanaugh relies on pertinent facts and reasonable evidence to prove his ideas on Obama who is about to fail. They will all have to wait and see if President Obama will be ‘cursed’ or not.

Bibliography:
1) Amar, Akhil Reed 2013. “Second Chances” In Annual Editions: American Government 44th ed. Bruce Stinebrickner, ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
2) Clymer, Adam 2012. “ Triumphant Obama Faces New Foe in ‘Second-Term Curse’ ” November 7, www.nytimes.com
3) Cavanaugh, Tim 2013. “Beware Obama’s Big Ideas” January 14, www.reason.com