Miércoles, 4 de enero de 2017 (Continuación)

President Obama after signing the Affordable Care Act into law in March 2010. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

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After Obama, Some Health Reforms May Prove Lasting

(A transformation of the delivery of health care may be an enduring legacy for the president, even as Republicans plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act).

Fragments of bone and cartilage arced across the operating room as Dr. R. Michael Meneghini drilled into the knee of his first patient at a hospital here at dawn. Within an hour, the 66-year-old woman had a replacement joint made of titanium and cobalt chrome, and she was sent home the next day.

But the Obama administration was watching over her caregivers’ shoulders. If, over three months, her medical costs exceeded a target amount set by President Obama’s health regulators in Washington, Dr.…  Seguir leyendo »

President Obama visited Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day in 2009. Section 60 is where many American soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq are buried. Credit Luke Sharrett/The New York Times

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The Afghan War and the Evolution of Obama

(A strategy that went from a “good war” to the shorthand “Afghan good enough” reflects the president’s coming to terms with what was possible in Afghanistan).

President Obama’s advisers wrestled with an intractable problem in the spring and summer of 2015: How could they stabilize Afghanistan while preserving Mr. Obama’s longtime goal of pulling out the last American troops before he left office?

As it happened, the president solved the problem for them. In early August of that year, when Mr. Obama convened a meeting of the National Security Council, he looked around the table and acknowledged a stark new reality.…  Seguir leyendo »

Mr. Obama with President Xi Jinping of China in California in June 2013. Despite their differences, the two leaders have worked together on landmark agreements to address climate change. Credit Christopher Gregory/The New York Times

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Obama on Climate Change: The Trends Are ‘Terrifying’

Seventy-four years ago, a naval battle off this remote spit of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean changed the course of World War II. Last week, President Obama flew here to swim with Hawaiian monk seals and draw attention to a quieter war — one he has waged against rising seas, freakish storms, deadly droughts and other symptoms of a planet choking on its own fumes.

Bombs may not be falling. The sound of gunfire does not concentrate the mind. What Mr. Obama has seen instead are the charts and graphs of a warming planet.…  Seguir leyendo »

President Obama signing an executive order in February 2014 directing federal contractors to raise their minimum wage for federally funded workers. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

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Once Skeptical of Executive Power, Obama Has Come to Embrace It

(Mr. Obama will leave the White House as one of the most prolific authors of major regulations in presidential history).

In nearly eight years in office, President Obama has sought to reshape the nation with a sweeping assertion of executive authority and a canon of regulations that have inserted the United States government more deeply into American life.

Once a presidential candidate with deep misgivings about executive power, Mr. Obama will leave the White House as one of the most prolific authors of major regulations in presidential history.

Blocked for most of his presidency by Congress, Mr.…  Seguir leyendo »