For President Barack Obama, August was supposed to be the month a sweeping immigration bill landed on his desk. There was hope for movement on a grand deficit deal with Republicans, and in the optimistic early days of his second term, even a belief that Obama would have already achieved stricter gun laws.
Instead, Obama finds his fifth year in office beset by distractions - perhaps none with broader domestic and foreign policy implications than the revelation of secret government surveillance programs. The matter dominated Obama's hourlong news conference Friday, with the issues the White House had hoped to be promoting this summer either playing a diminished role or none at all.
The president set the tone, opening the question-and-answer session by announcing that he would work with Congress to make "appropriate reforms" to the National Security Agency surveillance programs, while also making clear he had no intention of stopping the daily collection of Americans' phone records.
"Given the history of abuse by governments, it's right to ask questions about surveillance, particularly as technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives," he said, one day before leaving for a weeklong vacation with his family on Martha's Vineyard.
Even without the NSA revelations, Obama would still be facing the same political dynamic with congressional Republicans that stalled progress on immigration, squashed hope for a grand bargain and defeated gun control and a host of other administration priorities. And it's a reality of any administration that unexpected challenges can arise and shake up the White House's carefully laid plans.
But the sweeping scope of the surveillance disclosures leaked by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden means the issue is likely to be more than a temporary distraction for Obama, given the vigorous debate they have prompted on Capitol Hill and among the American public.
Obama's poll numbers have dropped since the programs became public, which could hamper his political leverage in Washington. And advisers say privately that the surveillance revelations are particularly problematic because the issue strikes a chord with Obama's Democratic base and can't simply be dismissed as partisan-driven.
Seeking to address critics of the secret programs, the president on Friday acknowledged that he may have underestimated the public's concerns. He also outlined steps that he said he hopes will increase Americans' confidence in the programs.
Among those steps are the creation of an independent attorney to argue against the government during secret hearings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews requests for surveillance inside the U.S. He is also forming an outside advisory panel to review U.S. surveillance powers.
The president says he welcomes the ongoing debate over government surveillance, though his national security team has said it never intended to tell Americans about the highly classified programs.
Obama also acknowledged as much Friday: "There's no doubt that Mr. Snowden's leaks triggered a much more rapid and passionate response than would have been the case."
