You have to go some way back to find a US president entering his last year without having been written off as a lame duck. Barack Obama stands little chance of enacting anything dramatic before he leaves office. But he has had years to get used to that. His abiding setback came in 2010 after Republicans took control of the House of Representatives. Little has passed since then. Yet Mr Obama’s closing months have a potential that is missing from most tail-end presidencies. US society is far more bitter and deeply polarised than when he took office. For those who can still recollect, Mr Obama’s original promise was to heal those divisions. He still has 12 months to make good on it.
要想找到一位进入最后一年任期却没有因为被当作“跛脚鸭”而不受重视的美国总统，恐怕你要追溯到很多年以前。在离任前，巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)没什么胜算推动通过任何重大法案。不过，他已经有很多年适应这个现实。他的持久挫败始于2010年共和党控制众议院(House of Representatives)之后。自那以后几乎没有通过任何法案。不过，奥巴马最后数月的任期有一个潜力是大多数“跛脚”总统所没有的。如今的美国社会远比他上任时更加矛盾尖锐，两极化更加严重。对那些仍然记得的人而言，当初奥巴马的承诺是弥合这些裂痕。他还有12个月来兑现这一承诺。