WITH the Supreme Court upholding the Affordable Care Act, it now appears that the last major opposition to the Act has been removed. There can be no doubt that if the decision had gone otherwise the Act would have collapsed and millions of Americans would have lost their subsidy for health insurance. As had happened in the past, many would get ill without any real attention paid to their plight. Health care costs for everybody who has insurance would skyrocket as the health insurers depended on this subsidy to keep prices in check throughout the market.

With the exception of Republican ideologues, few Americans have any doubt about the catastrophe this would have caused for health care in America. The justices who voted to uphold ‘Obamacare’ acted justly and wisely as they should. The others who voted against the measure had no real grasp or sensibility concerning the enormity of the pain that would have come to many Americans had their ideological positions prevailed.

Another landmark decision that will change the social and cultural landscape in America is the federalisation of gay marriage. People who do not live in the United States cannot quite understand how huge a deal this is. Even in the early part of his presidency, President Obama had not “evolved” on the matter of gay marriage. Even he had to be surprised at how quickly Americans changed on this subject from outright denial or opposition to one in which the majority countenanced gay marriage. It accelerated his own evolution on the subject, and today, across all 50 states, people can marry the persons they love, whether they are of the same sex or not. This is huge. This is revolutionary. Though some have said this is dangerous and America will pay for it.

Prior to the Supreme Court rulings, Congress had granted the president authority under the Trans Pacific Partnership Trade agreement. It is interesting that the real opposition to the president on this deal did not come from the intransigent Republicans, but from the Democrats and the trade unions, the latter being significant bastions of his support in his two elections. There is still a great deal to be worked out in terms of how this partnership will operate, but the deal gives America more than a foothold in dealing with pacific countries in a way they have not done before. Without America being in the pacific, China and the Russians, would certainly dominate trade in the area and dictate terms. America’s weaker partners in the area had grown concerned about this and more impatient with the American authorities dithering in giving the president the authority he needed. Now that that authority has been given, there will be changes in significant ways as American respectability in the region increases.

These three developments augur well for President Obama as he goes into the final legs of his presidency. Expect his stridency to increase, especially as he calls for hefty spending on America’s failing national infrastructure. There will be some movement on immigration itself, but like the waning days of George W Bush’s presidency, there will be no comprehensive immigration reform. Immigration reform will once again become a victim of the campaign for the presidency. With Republicans controlling Congress, some attempt at a piecemeal reform will be made, but there will be no robust attempt to change the immigration landscape. It will be left to the next president to muddle his or her way through the marshland of immigration.

But the president should be fired up with these recent victories. Prior to them he was looking and sounding like a real lameduck. The pep had gone out of his step, so to speak, and he looked tired and haggard. This certainly had to be from frustration over his presidency just limping along. There is no greater tonic that he could have received than to see his signature legislation, that will mark his spot in history, really being cemented as the law of the land.

The Republicans will do what they have become adept at doing since the Tea Party rode into town in the 2010 term elections. They will obfuscate, block, and stymie anything meaningful the president will propose to move the country forward. But have I seen a glimmer of hope that even Mitch McConnell senses that they need to get something done? If the answer to this is yes, he may want to convince his colleague John Boehner, the speaker of the House, to begin acting like a statesman, instead of a man who is unworthy of the office he holds.

When a president fails, the country suffers. Whenever the offices of government are degraded by inveterate hatred of the person occupying that office, the stage is set for the country to be hurt or to be ridiculed by its enemies. Many Republicans do not have the political adroitness to realise that when they denude the significance of the presidency, they embolden the country’s enemies. Republican intransigence has set back American respectability in the world. The Middle East is a seething cauldron and yet war has not been declared against ISIS/ISIL even though the president has asked for the authority to do so. Many Republicans, who blame the president for not being more robust, are themselves tying his hands by silly application of the separation of powers provisions of the constitution. The president does not have a great deal of time left, but he must use the remaining months wisely and a bit more aggressively than he has done in the past. Some may argue that this is wishful thinking given the president’s non-confrontational style and lawyerly disposition. But a week in politics, as they say, is a long time. What can we say of 16 to 18 months?

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest and social commentator. Send comments to: stead6655@aol.com