Washington Post writer Chris Cillizza combs through all the "inhabitants of Planet Beltway who stand out for all the wrong reasons" and selects one who has hit rock bottom. The 2013 title was handed over to none other than President Barack Obama.
Straight from WaPo:
To win the Worst Year in Washington, you need to be very good at being very bad, or have really bad luck. Previous Worst Year winners have included then-Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele (remember him?), the tea party movement (always a contender) and Congress (yes, all of it).
This past year offered plenty of candidates, but who is most deserving of this least desirable recognition? (Hint: He’s still in power but has little of it these days.)
From the scathing scandals surrounding Edward Snowden, the Internal Revenue Service and Benghazi to the Obamacare trainwreck, the president has hardly delivered on his promises of hope and change.
"The damage done to Obama’s brand will linger well beyond this calendar year. There are no second chances in presidential tenures. Barack Obama, for wasting a year torpedoing your legacy, you had the worst year in Washington. Congrats, or something."
Meanwhile, look who had "The best year in Washington":
Okay, so perhaps the caricature of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is not the most flattering, but the text praising his triumphant year certainly is:
Christie’s 2013 actually got off to a great start in late 2012, when Newark Mayor Cory Booker announced that he would not challenge Christie and would instead focus on running for the Senate. With Booker out of the picture, the governor’s reelection became much more likely, particularly after Democrats settled on a state senator named Barbara Buono (who?) as their standard-bearer.
Sensing opportunity, Christie and his political team set out to not just win but win big. And they did. Not only did Christie become the first Republican in more than two decades to capture more than 50 percent of the statewide vote in New Jersey, but he also won female voters by 15 points, claimed a majority of the Hispanic vote and took one in five African American votes.
Before November was out, Christie was elected to chair the Republican Governors Association, a perch that will allow him to attract major donors who finance presidential bids.
The only problem for Christie in 2013? It wasn’t 2015.
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Christie's problem seems a lot less disastrous than Obama's, who will leave office after three more years with a tarnished legacy and a signature piece of legislation that will continue to drag his name through the dust.
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