Does Barack Obama's Gun Control Measures Hurt Hillary Clinton?

WaPo.com:

Whatever one believes about the merits of his actions, they are no different legally speaking from his unilateral action on immigration, which has been blocked so far by the courts as an impermissible executive overreach. As with immigration, it is no excuse to say that Congress won’t act on gun control. For starters, Congress did act, and said no. For another, there is no constitutional clause in Article II specifying that the president can do what he wants if he cannot get Congress’s attention.

Obama’s moves will almost surely help Clinton in the primary against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), whom she has already attacked for his pro-Second Amendment stances. But the moves will also mobilize the National Rifle Association and potentially aggravate the swing voters in the November election in states such as Virginia, Colorado and those in the upper Midwest. It was Bill Clinton, you recall, who attributed Al Gore’s 2000 loss (including loss of Gore’s home state) in part to the gun issue. And if Republicans are worried that downscale white voters won’t turn out in 2016 without Donald Trump, this surely gives other candidates a tool to mobilize such voters.

Guns aren’t Hillary Clinton’s only policy headache. The stock market’s rocky start to 2016 is indicative of international instability and fears of another recession. The Wall Street Journal reports:

U.S. stocks slipped Tuesday as investors remained cautious on the heels of a sharp selloff.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up earlier gains, falling 56 points, or 0.3%, to 17093. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.1%.

“I don’t think people are convinced that the U.S. markets will see all-time highs in 2016,” said Keith Bliss, senior vice president at brokerage Cuttone & Co.

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