WASHINGTON: The White House saw it coming, but still it stung. When President Barack Obama was hit with the first veto override of his two terms, it was a clear reminder of his dwindling political influence, years of confounding relationships with Congress and shaky prospects for the few legislative priorities he has left.

The fiercely competitive president has said he intends to keep working with Congress until the final buzzer sounds in January, but it’s not clear how much juice he’ll have left.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada was the only one among 44 Democrats in the Senate to stand by Obama in upholding his veto of a piece of Sept. 11 legislation. Every Republican voted on Wednesday to override.

The Republican-led House followed suit, eagerly exceeding the two-thirds threshold necessary to push the legislation into law over the president’s objections. Several lawmakers acknowledged they had problems with the bill, but charged ahead anyway.

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said lawmakers should consider fixing the measure and that the White House was slow to raise concerns.

No modern president has made it through two full terms without Congress overriding at least one of his vetoes. Obama’s record measures up well compared with his two immediate predecessors. George W. Bush had four and Bill Clinton two.

When a reporter noted that the 97-1 vote was the widest margin for an override vote since 1983, White House spokesman Josh Earnest retorted: “I would venture to say that this is the single most embarrassing thing that the United States Senate has done, possibly, since 1983.” Obama delivered a more measured, but still harsh, assessment.

“It was basically a political vote,” Obama told CNN, not sparing Democrats from his critique. “Sometimes you have to do what’s hard. And, frankly, I wish Congress here had done what’s hard. ... But I didn’t expect it.” The long-stalled bill, which allows the families of Sept. 11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia for the kingdom’s alleged backing of the attackers, has long flown under the radar.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2016