Word: lamed
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...Reagan launched his much heralded "fall offensive" to reform the tax code, he was faced with the hardest political test of his presidency: how, as an incipient lame duck, to translate his immense personal popularity into congressional support for his policies. Where legislators once feared his power to go over their heads to the voters, many have now grown restive and defiant...
...challenge that awaits Reagan on his return to Washington includes an irrevocable factor: even this most resilient of Presidents is running out of time. The period in which he must regain the initiative or see his last term fade into lame-duck stagnation appears to be dwindling rapidly. Political considerations will dominate the capital once the new year begins and midterm congressional elections approach. But as Reagan negotiates with Congress this fall, he must also prepare for his all-important summit with Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The President has often been highly successful when tackling one or two major issues...
...stakes for Reagan, as well as his party, are considerable. In the short term he needs a victory, or at least the prospect of one, to fend off any impression that he is becoming an impotent, lame-duck President. His second term has begun badly, and his Administration seems stalled. The major high- level shuffles last January, particularly the job switch between Chief of Staff Baker and Treasury Secretary Regan, wasted time that could have been spent exploiting Reagan's re-election momentum. Congress handcuffed the President on aid to the contras in Nicaragua, MX missile deployment and his defense...
...presidential clout. I don't think the fact that the President is not running for office again means that he can't effectively mobilize support for something that should be inherently popular to begin with, unless you assume that any American President is a lame duck the day he gets re-elected. I don't buy that, so I think he will be able to mobilize. I think he will engender rather substantial support on the part of the public, and that, in the final analysis, is whom Congress listens...
Indeed, winning the tax-reform battle would forever make mythic Reagan's political touch. But if the rewards for the President are great, there are certainly risks. Losing could stamp him as a feckless lame duck. And at this point, failure is at least an even...