How Obama can salvage his last 28 months

Then there’s the problem he calls “optics.” From golfing shortly after condemning the beheading of an American journalist to diverting Air Force One so he can take Stonehenge off his bucket list, Mr. Obama often appears detached, disengaged and even disinterested in his job and in his relations with foreign leaders and Congress. He should show up in the Oval Office earlier and more often, golf and fundraise less, and give building relationships and digging into the tasks at hand everything he’s got for his last 28 months. There’s time to recreate after he leaves office.

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The president should shake up his White House staff. He is largely surrounded by sycophants who encourage his worst instincts and bury his better ones. He should start by showing the door to senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, his chief enabler.

Mr. Obama would be well served by altering his goals and methods. After his party was defeated in 1994, Bill Clinton moved to the center, signed welfare reform and restrained spending. After his party was defeated in 2006, President George W. Bush switched defense secretaries and his Iraq strategy. Mr. Obama must change for a better trajectory during his last months in office.

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