the economy is in full recovery mode. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-04/u-s-deficit-decline-to-2-8-of-gdp-is-unprecedented-turn.html
health reform has worked pretty well (but not perfectly), with millions of newly insured people on the roster and costs contained. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMhpr1405667 *
he's pushed immigration in a practical direction and challenged the republicans to do something about it (hint: they don't dare alienate latino voters in places like texas).
he prized a climate deal out of china.
the cuba farce is over.
isis is finally looking weak.
his russia containment policy, which had seemed toothless, got major assistance from the oil price collapse.
the benghazi investigation was exposed as a pointless waste of time.
and the lack of any congressional majority means he can abandon the need to negotiate around swing state prerogatives.
in the next two years, maybe he can do some serious stuff with his executive pen on gun control ... finally.
*"Taking all existing coverage expansions together, we estimate that 20 million Americans have gained coverage as of May 1 under the ACA (Figure 3Figure 3Categories of Expanded Health Insurance Coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).). We do not know yet exactly how many of these people were previously uninsured, but it seems certain that many were. Recent national surveys seem to confirm this presumption. The CBO projects that the law will decrease the number of uninsured people by 12 million this year and by 26 million by 2017. Early polling data from Gallup, RAND, and the Urban Institute indicate that the number of uninsured people may have already declined by 5 million to 9 million and that the proportion of U.S. adults lacking insurance has fallen from 18% in the third quarter of 2013 to 13.4% in May 2014.
However, these surveys may underestimate total gains, since some were fielded before the late March enrollment surge and do not include children. With continuing enrollment through individual marketplaces, Medicaid, and SHOP, the numbers of Americans gaining insurance for the first time — or insurance that is better in quality or more affordable than their previous policy — will total in the many tens of millions." - New England Journal of Medicine
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