From one crisis to another: Obama's directionless second term

The crises cycle through so quickly that one week’s high drama is nearly forgotten the next, like the brief interlude in April when war with North Korea suddenly seemed fathomable. The new obsession over the NSA leaks has almost blotted out the short-lived frenzy over the Justice Department’s surveillance of Fox News reporter James Rosen. And don’t forget the week or so of mania over the Benghazi talking points, which for a moment had some Republicans talking about impeachment but in retrospect looks a little like Geraldo Rivera’s opening of Al Capone’s vault.

And now comes Edward Snowden, and his leaks about government collection of domestic phone call data, surveillance of communications by terror suspects overseas, and alleged American spying on rivals and allies alike. Snowden’s overseas odyssey this week has also focused new attention on tensions in America’s relationships with China and Russia.

But driving the news isn’t essential to presidential success. Obama’s poll numbers have been resilient over the past few weeks. Immigration reform, another of his key priorities, is steadily advancing. The economy continues to improve. And action on climate change would address one of his major unfulfilled promises from his 2008 campaign.

Vietor recalls that Obama has endured crisis periods before–including early 2011, when the Japanese tsunami and the beginning of the Arab Spring fixated the media and the White House–and regained the political initiative.