Don’t call him irrelevant.
The Senate’s confirmation this week of Richard Cordray to head the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with the State of New York’s announcement of dramatically reduced health care premiums because of the Affordable Care Act, illustrated major progress on two of President Obama’s most important goals in a second term.
For the last several months, as a gun control bill failed to even pass in the Democratically-controlled Senate and a spate of controversies over IRS audits and other matters dominated the headlines, the White House faced criticism that Obama’s second term would accomplish little.
Last month, when the administration announced it would delay the employer mandate in the health care law, suggesting broader challenges with the implementation of “Obamacare,” it seemed even parts of Obama’s agenda that did not require Republican support would also be unsuccessful.
But Cordray’s confirmation ensures an agency at the center of President Obama’s efforts to reform Wall Street will at least have a chance to work. And the news from New York could rebut Republicans’ criticisms that the health care law won’t work.
“Beginning in October, individuals in New York City who now pay $1,000 a month or more for coverage will be able to shop for health insurance for as little as $308 monthly. With federal subsidies, the cost will be even lower,” the New York Times wrote this week in a front-page that administration officials have trumpeted.
These developments illustrate the importance of Obama winning re-election and using his executive powers to enforce laws.
Even on immigration, the issue for which it was expected the president and Republicans would have the best chance to reach a compromise, it remains far from clear any legislation will be approved by both Houses and signed by the president. Any kind of long-term budget deficit agreement or gun control bill have even longer odds.
But the implementation of the health care law and the Wall Street reform bills would have been dramatically different or not happened at all if Mitt Romney had been elected.
Follow Perry Bacon Jr. on Twitter at @perrybaconjr