An Inflection Point?

After the 2012 election, perhaps this week will appear as a low point from which the president recovered. Or perhaps it will look like an inflection point, as George Condon writes at National Journal:

The downing of a NATO Chinook helicopter and the deaths of at least 31 Americans, the single deadliest day for the United States in Afghanistan, provide a tragic coda to what may be a seminal moment in the Obama presidency.

Should Obama lose reelection, this week might one day be considered an inflection point.

First, the White House and Congress failed to reach a “grand bargain” on deficit reduction while barely meeting a self-imposed deadline to lift the nation’s debt limit. The bitter negotiations damaged the standing of Washington leaders—including Obama—in the eyes of an anxious and frustrated public.

Then a rating agency lowered the U.S. credit rating for the first time, an ignominious legacy for Obama.

And now this harrowing news from Afghanistan—a sobering reminder that a war Obama inherited and expanded will not end anytime soon.