The End of the President's Long-Term Influence?

President Obama speaking to military members in New Jersey.

Earlier tonight the United States Senate closed out the 113th Congress approving a group of nominations and legislation that had already cleared the House. Another dozen judicial nominees of the President were approved in the closing days, as were nominees for offices as significant as the Surgeon General. It was a good week for having a functional government.

It's also the end of this Presidency in terms of formal powers. Legislation basically stopped passing after the 2010 midterm, and his political potency slowed after his re-election, but only now is the President's ability to appoint people to executive, judicial, and regulatory offices now ending. With the Senate's ending, the next Senate in 2015 will be under the control of Republicans. This doesn't mean that no one else will be confirmed. It just means only the least controversial will go through, and the new Senate will likely slow down and kill most new nominees.

With that in mind, all that is left are two relatively tame (if history repeats itself) budgets, and command of the military, both things that will be undone after the 2016 election. In other words, it's fair to say that it is likely that President Obama has completed his long-term significant work. It's obviously way, way too early to judge his Presidency in full, but we are now entering the period where attention will start moving... to the future.