Politics
REUTERS
Coming into the first year of his second term in office, President Barack Obama found the waters especially choppy. The first half of his year was marred by controversies involving the IRS and National Security Agency, among other, smaller pitfalls. And, later in the year, his signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act, got off to a rocky start after Democrats had gotten a boost in the polls following the federal government shutdown.
He also did not succeed in two high-profile legislative fights with Congress - one involving the expansion of background checks on gun purchases was defeated in the Senate, and immigration reform has been stalled in the House.
"I'm hardly an Obama-basher, but you have to conclude that this is one of the worst beginnings of a second term in decades," Greg Valliere, the chief political strategist at Potomac Research, told Business Insider in mid-November. "It was clear after Obama lost in the Senate last winter on background checks for gun control that he had little clout in Congress."
"It looks as if this president is dead in the water, a spent force," Valliere added. "This is shaping up as one of the most dismal second terms in our lifetimes, certainly the worst since Richard Nixon's presidency."
Though the Obama administration's struggles dominated the year, here's a look back at 29 of the most memorable moments in U.S.