The 3 Big Things on Obama’s To-Do List, With One Year to Go

With less than a year before his successor is elected and he officially becomes a lame-duck president, time is running short. Obama has moved the ball forward on a number of legacy items already this year. Some have solidified; others remain in limbo . . .

Here are things on Obama’s final to-do list.

1. Finally close Guantanamo. Shuttering Guantanamo is less of a legacy issue and more of a moral one for the president, Stokes said. Since the first days of his presidency, Obama has maintained the prison, where men can be held indefinitely, is a propaganda tool for terrorists. But congressional Republicans say closing it will create more risk than it’s worth, and they — and the realities of what to do with existing prisoners there — have successfully blocked the president for six years from doing anything about it . . .

2. Get the TPP through Congress. Obama already scored a major legislative victory this summer when he persuaded enough congressional Democrats — yes, he was working against much of his own party on this one — to give him authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership without congressional say-so on every little detail . . .

3. Ink an international climate change deal. Here’s one place Obama might not need to do battle with Congress. Whatever comes out of a major United Nations summit on climate change held in Paris at the end of this month will likely not have to ratified by the Senate. (Read more from “The 3 Big Things on Obama’s To-Do List, With One Year to Go” HERE)

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