A White House Aware of Second-Term Perils

From The New York Times:

 

Franklin D. Roosevelt found the economy relapsing and lost a fight to pack the Supreme Court. Richard M. Nixon was forced to resign by the Watergate scandal. Ronald Reagan was caught up in the Iran-contra affair. Bill Clinton was impeached, though not convicted, for lying under oath about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. George W. Bush was damaged by the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina and a financial crash.

At the same time, as the historians made clear to Mr. Obama at their dinner this month, there were still second-term opportunities. Reagan overhauled the tax code and signed a new arms control treaty with the Soviet Union. Mr. Clinton balanced the budget and successfully led the Kosovo war. Mr. Bush turned the Iraq war around with a surge of troops and a strategy change and forestalled a new depression in his final weeks in office.