Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:

The Chicago Tribune on how Obama should capitalize on two takeaways from his address:

State of the Union addresses are about big ambitions, and Tuesday night’s didn’t disappoint. Barack Obama’s many priorities ”“ job creation, middle-class earnings, infrastructure spending and all the others ”“ are the unfinished business of a president aware (and no doubt uneasy) that, in three years, he belongs to history.

How many of those aspirations can he achieve? Of 24 proposals in last year’s address, Washington Post fact-checkers rate five as accomplished, four as partially complete and 15 ”“ notably gun control, immigration reform and a minimum wage hike ”“ as dead letters. And at first glance, this year’s prognosis wouldn’t be that upbeat:

The Obamacare rollout soured many Americans on government-as-change-agent. Twitchy members of Congress avoid bold votes in election years. And Obama’s approval ratings have tumbled. From the Post’s report on its new poll with ABC News: “Just 37 percent (of respondents) say they have either a good amount or a great deal of confidence in the president to make the right decisions for the country’s future, while 63 percent say they do not. Those numbers are the mirror image of what they were when he was sworn into office in 2009.” Ouch.

Tuesday night, Obama didn’t dwell on his lost 2013. There was an oblique nod to his gridlock with Congress last year: “Let’s make this a year of action.” The subtext: He has to wonder whether, if his signature health overhaul doesn’t succeed, his presidency totals one year of managing through a financial crisis, followed by a biblical seven years of lean.

That’s why his staffers have been broadcasting the message that Obama will try to circumvent Congress by marshaling his powers of office. Presidents of both parties have done that although it’s often a frustrating way to rule: Congress can thwart (or refuse to fund) executive orders that lack the force of law. And subsequent presidents can undo those orders as breezily as they were written.

Listening to Obama, though, we heard two takeaways that should be his realistic agenda before the acceleration of presidential campaigning in 2015 certifies his lame-duckery. The point isn’t that he can get Congress to do his bidding; he cannot. On these two issues, though, he can help Republicans and Democrats realize that it’s in their best interests to do as he asks. …

That’s a spectacularly accurate if too limited prediction of all that a reform to federal taxes and transfer programs could deliver.

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