President Obama failed to slow the rise of the oceans as promised in his 2009 inaugural address, but he seized control of parts of the Atlantic and Arctic by using his executive authority to ban offshore drilling in those waters. His action is raw meat for the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress.

With only a short time remaining in his presidency, Barack Obama delivered a sharp blow to police groups and their supporters in Congress by giving a four-year term on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to Debo Adegbile, who defended former Black Panther and convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal. The action was branded a "slap in the face" and a "kick in the teeth" by opponents.

And while innocent shoppers were killed and injured in an apparent terrorist attack in a German Christmas market and the Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated in Ankara, President Obama plays golf in Hawaii on his final taxpayer-funded vacation.