For Obama, It’s About His Legacy

New York Times: “In the days immediately after he took office, Mr. Obama ended the use of torture, lifted Mr. Bush’s ban on stem-cell research, relaxed enforcement of marijuana laws, blocked oil and gas leases on public lands, ordered the closing of the American prison at Guantánamo Bay within a year, scrapped oil-shale development in the West, reversed restrictions on union organizing, overturned bans on the use of affirmative action by colleges and approved stricter emissions rules.”

“Eight years later, as Mr. Obama and the veterans of his administration gear up to help Mrs. Clinton get elected in November, there is no better motivation for them than the prospect of a President Trump ordering a similar reversal.”

“Driven by those fears, the president plans to campaign aggressively for Mrs. Clinton this fall. Aides have largely cleared his calendar in October, and barring new crises, the White House expects Mr. Obama to be on the campaign trail almost daily leading up to Election Day.”

Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Obama knows well the risks when a new president of the opposite party comes into the White House because he spent much of his initial weeks in office reversing policies his predecessor, George W. Bush, had put into effect.”