The Second Coming

What can the 44th president really achieve in his second term? Here are 10 ideas.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013

If you were to print out all the white papers, op-eds, and think-tank reports urging U.S. President Barack Obama to do this or that in his second term, the sheer amount of paper produced would probably require chopping down the Amazon rain forest. There's a reason these well-intentioned ideas generally sit on the shelf: They're unrealistic. Wave a magic wand, and the president can do everything from make peace in the Middle East to reshape the entire world economy in America's favor. What follows is something different: advice he can actually implement.

Jody Williams: Stop Using Land Mines and Cluster Munitions

George Papandreou: Save Greece, Save Europe

John Prendergast: Get Kony

Kenneth Roth: Dump These 8 Unsavory Allies

David E. Hoffman: Take the Nukes off Alert

Zbigniew Brzezinski: Get His Authority Back

Gal Luft: Kill the Oil Monopoly

Gernot Wagner: Cut Power Plant Pollution

Edward P. Joseph: Make a Trade Deal with Europe

Micah L. Sifry: Fix American Democracy