Controversies frustrate Obama’s second term

President Barack Obama walks across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, May 29, 2013, to the Marine One helicopter. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

WASHINGTON (AP) — For President Barack Obama, the opening months of his second term have been a frustrating reminder of the limits of presidential power and the durability of the Washington political apparatus he disdains.

Obama has yet to achieve a significant second term legislative victory, a task that will only get harder as the calendar inches closer to next year’s midterm elections. A trio of controversies roiling Washington have emboldened Republicans eager to gain an advantage over the president and revealed a Democratic establishment willing to publicly second-guess the White House. And Obama, who ran for office as an outsider pledging to overcome Washington’s bitter partisan divide, acknowledges he’s made little progress on that front.