Obama has long work list to tackle when he returns

It's hardly a secret that Barack Obama, like every president no doubt, muses about his ultimate legacy and spot in the presidential pantheon. He approaches his second term confronting tough and shifting challenges that will play big roles in shaping the rest of his presidency and his eventual place in history… "Americans are yearning for leadership," said Gil Troy, a presidential scholar at McGill University. As a president dealing with policy, he said, Obama has generally failed to give "that visionary, powerful address that we came to know and love and expect in the 2008 campaign." Rather than let Congress take the lead on big issues, as it did in drafting the 2009 health care overhaul, Obama should be more forceful in pushing new legislation or using his executive powers to bypass Congress where possible, Troy said. "The gun control issue is a major opportunity for Obama to make his mark on history -- and solve a problem that has frustrated Democrats for decades," he added.

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