&gt; A big part of Obama&#x27;s original appeal was his entirely unrealised promise to try and reform Washington. Unfortunately he lost interest in that once elected. Not that he could really have fixed anything anyway: the mismatch between emphasis on the US President and how much power they actually have is kind of ridiculous.<p>I don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s fair to say he lost interest in it. It&#x27;s a combination of 1) having less power than people think; and 2) having to be everyone&#x27;s President, not just the people who elected him.<p>If you were President and had a good faith desire to govern by national consensus, <i>what would you do?</i> Deregulate industries? Increase regulation? Flat tax? Eliminate social security? Increase social security? Universal healthcare? No healthcare? End the drug war? How much of that do you think would drum up more than bare majority support?