SGX's Q2 net profit rises 17% to S$76m






SINGAPORE : Rising interest in derivatives trading helped lift earnings for the Singapore Exchange (SGX) last quarter.

Asia's second-largest bourse operator reported a 17 per cent on-year rise in second-quarter net profit to S$76 million.

It also attracted a large number of new bond listings in the same quarter.

Derivatives trading has been the star performer in SGX.

Over the October to December quarter, derivatives daily average volume on SGX hit a record of 358,532 contracts, up 30 per cent on-year.

This was supported by rising trading interests in China A50 futures and Japan Nikkei 225 options.

Not to be undone, the securities market performed well too.

Its daily average volume rose 8 per cent for the quarter to hit a trading value of S$1.2 billion.

This translates to a revenue of S$58 million for the securities business segment.

SGX said the better performance was due to improvements in investor sentiment following stability over the Europe debt situation and improved US economy.

Magnus Bocker, chief executive officer of Singapore Exchange, said: "We should remember the enormous amount of liquidity in the market. Not so much in the equity market, but actually more in the fixed income and currency markets, and with chasing yields and lot of very successful and growing companies, I think we can all expect this sentiment to continue. I think we can expect more flows into securities."

Some analysts are bullish on SGX's prospects going forward.

The said the improved investment climate globally may benefit the exchange operator.

Ken Ang, investment analyst at Phillip Securities Research, said: "SGX is very well placed to benefit from this increasing attractiveness of the equity market and therefore resulting in increase in trading value."

SGX attracted eight new listings in its second quarter - raising S$798.9 million.

While the number seems small, it came amid declines in the global initial public offering (IPO) market.

In 2012, global IPO volumes fell 27 per cent, with the lowest level of funds raised since 2009.

Kenneth Ng, head of Singapore research at CIMB Research, said: "I think while that (derivative) is great and that diversified the revenue of SGX, SGX still has a rather pertinent problem of trying to increase the security turnover velocity and value by retail initiatives, attracting listings and so forth."

Apart from seeking more IPOs, SGX also attracted some 90 new bond listings, raising S$39.7 billion for the quarter.

- CNA/ms



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Vegas officer kills wife, son and himself




When a SWAT team arrived at the lieutenant's home, they found him waiting outside with what was believed to be a gun.




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • The officer called 911 to say he had killed his wife and son

  • His home was burning when the SWAT team arrived

  • After the fire was put out officers found three bodies in the home

  • Survey: Last year, 126 police officer killed themselves




(CNN) -- Even for stone-faced, seen-it-all-before officers, the act that took place at a police lieutenant's Las Vegas-area home Monday was deeply distressing.


The 52-year-old lawman, police said, killed his wife and child, called 911 to say he was burning his house down and warned he would take the life of anyone who tried to stop him.


Then he waited.


When a SWAT team arrived at the lieutenant's Boulder City home, they found him outside with what looked like a handgun.


Officers asked him to drop the weapon -- commands the lieutenant must have screamed many times before in his 20-year career. He ignored them and ducked back into the blazing home.


It was then, police believe, that he killed himself.


Once firefighters put out the blaze that tore through the home, they found his body, his 46-year-old wife's, and their elementary-school-aged son's.


CNN is withholding their names because the coroner's office has not finished notifying family members.


The lieutenant worked for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, where he supervised patrol officers, CNN affiliate KVVU reported.


The station had interviewed him before about other crimes.


The wife worked for some time as a Las Vegas police officer, the Las Vegas Review-Journal said.


She won a community service award and a lifesaving award before leaving the department in 2005.


"Anyone involved with law enforcement for any amount of time is usually prepared for any scenario, but nobody can prepare for something like this," Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Doug Gillespie told reporters.


Last year, 126 police officers killed themselves, according to the National Study of Police Suicides by the nonprofit The Badge of Life.


It's a steep drop from the other two years the survey was conducted: 143 in 2009 and 141 in 2008.


Yet, it's cause for concern.


"In spite of this encouraging news, the fact is that police suicides continue at a rate much higher than the number of police officers killed by felons," the group said.


Folks who knew the lieutenant in Monday's incident were also trying to make sense of it. The soul-searching was agonizing for some.


Retired Las Vegas lieutenant Randy Sutton told KVVU he had worked alongside the lieutenant for years.


"There's no rhyme or reason," Sutton said, saying the lieutenant was hard-working and seemed well-adjusted.


This is "the most unconscionable, dishonorable thing to do I can ever imagine," he added.


"The memories I have of him, they mean nothing to me anymore."


Read more about this story from CNN affiliate KVVU.






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U.K. grandma gets death sentence in Bali

BALI An Indonesian court sentenced a British grandmother to death on Tuesday for smuggling cocaine worth $2.5 million in her suitcase onto the resort island of Bali — even though prosecutors had sought only a 15-year sentence.

Lindsay June Sandiford, 56, wept when judges handed down the sentence and declined to speak to reporters on her way back to prison, covering her face with a floral scarf. She had claimed in court that she was forced into taking the drugs into the country by a gang that was threatening to hurt her children.

Indonesia, like many Asian countries, is very strict on drug crimes, and most of the more than 40 foreigners on its death row were convicted of drug charges.

Sandiford's lawyer said she would appeal. Appeals take several years, and the country has not carried out an execution since 2008, when 10 people were put to death.

A verdict is expected in the trial of Sandiford's alleged accomplice, British man Julian Anthony Pounder, on Wednesday. He is accused of receiving the drugs in Bali, which has a busy bar and nightclub scene where party drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy are bought and sold between foreigners. Two other British citizens and an Indian have already been convicted and sentenced to prison in connection with the bust.

In its verdict, a judge panel at the Denpasar District Court concluded that Sandiford had damaged the image of Bali as a tourism destination and weakened the government's drug prevention program.

"We found no reason to lighten her sentence," said Amser Simanjuntak, who headed the judicial panel.

Prosecutors had been seeking a 15-year prison sentence for Sandiford, who was arrested in May when customs officers at Bali's airport discovered 8.4 pounds of cocaine in the lining of her luggage.

State prosecutor Lie Putra Setiawan told reporters that the verdict was "appropriate," explaining that prosecutors had been demanding 15 years because of Sandiford's age.

Indonesia has 114 prisoners on death row, according to a March 2012 study by Australia's Lowy Institute for International Policy. Five foreigners have been executed since 1998, all for drug crimes, according to the institute.

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Group Finds More Fake Ingredients in Popular Foods













It's what we expect as shoppers—what's in the food will be displayed on the label.


But a new scientific examination by the non-profit food fraud detectives the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), discovered rising numbers of fake ingredients in products from olive oil to spices to fruit juice.


"Food products are not always what they purport to be," Markus Lipp, senior director for Food Standards for the independent lab in Maryland, told ABC News.


In a new database to be released Wednesday, and obtained exclusively by ABC News today, USP warns consumers, the FDA and manufacturers that the amount of food fraud they found is up by 60 percent this year.


USP, a scientific nonprofit that according to their website "sets standards for the identity, strength, quality, and purity of medicines, food ingredients, and dietary supplements manufactured, distributed and consumed worldwide" first released the Food Fraud Database in April 2012.


The organization examined more than 1,300 published studies and media reports from 1980-2010. The update to the database includes nearly 800 new records, nearly all published in 2011 and 2012.


Among the most popular targets for unscrupulous food suppliers? Pomegranate juice, which is often diluted with grape or pear juice.


"Pomegranate juice is a high-value ingredient and a high-priced ingredient, and adulteration appears to be widespread," Lipp said. "It can be adulterated with other food juices…additional sugar, or just water and sugar."






Lipp added that there have also been reports of completely "synthetic pomegranate juice" that didn't contain any traces of the real juice.


USP tells ABC News that liquids and ground foods in general are the easiest to tamper with:

  • Olive oil: often diluted with cheaper oils

  • Lemon juice: cheapened with water and sugar

  • Tea: diluted with fillers like lawn grass or fern leaves

  • Spices: like paprika or saffron adulterated with dangerous food colorings that mimic the colors


Milk, honey, coffee and syrup are also listed by the USP as being highly adulterated products.


Also high on the list: seafood. The number one fake being escolar, an oily fish that can cause stomach problems, being mislabeled as white tuna or albacore, frequently found on sushi menus.


National Consumers League did its own testing on lemon juice just this past year and found four different products labeled 100 percent lemon juice were far from pure.


"One had 10 percent lemon juice, it said it had 100 percent, another had 15 percent lemon juice, another...had 25 percent, and the last one had 35 percent lemon juice," Sally Greenberg, Executive Director for the National Consumers League said. "And they were all labeled 100 percent lemon juice."


Greenberg explains there are indications to help consumers pick the faux from the food.


"In a bottle of olive oil if there's a dark bottle, does it have the date that it was harvested?" she said. While other products, such as honey or lemon juice, are more difficult to discern, if the price is "too good to be true" it probably is.


"$5.50, that's pretty cheap for extra virgin olive oil," Greenberg said. "And something that should raise some eyebrows for consumers."


Many of the products USP found to be adulterated are those that would be more expensive or research intensive in its production.
"Pomegranate juice is expensive because there is little juice in a pomegranate," Lipp said.






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How Obama made opportunity real






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • LZ Granderson: Specifics of Obama's first term may not be remembered

  • He says his ability to win presidency twice is unforgettable

  • Granderson: Obama, the first black president, makes opportunity real for many

  • He says it makes presidency a possibility for people of all backgrounds




Editor's note: LZ Granderson, who writes a weekly column for CNN.com, was named journalist of the year by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and is a 2011 Online Journalism Award finalist for commentary. He is a senior writer and columnist for ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter: @locs_n_laughs.


(CNN) -- In his first term, President Barack Obama signed 654 bills into law, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by about 70% and the national debt by $5.8 trillion.


And in 10 years -- maybe less -- few outside of the Beltway will remember any of that. That's not to suggest those details are not important. But even if all of his actions are forgotten, Obama's legacy as the first black president will endure.


And even though this is his second term and fewer people are expected to travel to Washington this time to witness the inauguration, know that this moment is not any less important.



For had Obama not been re-elected, his barrier-breaking election in 2008 could have easily been characterized as a charismatic politician capturing lightning in a bottle. But by becoming the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to win at least 51% of the vote twice, Obama proved his administration was successful.


And not by chance, but by change.


A change, to paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., that was not inevitable but a result of our collective and continuous struggle to be that shining city on a hill of which President Ronald Reagan spoke so often.









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For much of this country's history, being a white male was a legal prerequisite to being president. Then it was accepted as a cultural norm. Because of that, we could not be the country we set out to be.


But today, somewhere in the Midwest, there is a little Asian-American girl with the crazy idea she could be president one day, and because of Obama, she knows that idea is not very crazy at all.


That's power -- the kind of power that can fade urgent numbers and debates of the day into the background of history.


Gergen: Obama 2.0 version is smarter, tougher


Few remember the number of steps Neil Armstrong took when he landed on the moon, but they remember he was the first human being who stepped on the moon. Few can tell you how many hits Jackie Robinson had in his first Major League Baseball game, but they know he broke baseball's color barrier. Paying homage to a person being first at something significant does not diminish his or her other accomplishments. It adds texture to the arc of their story.


I understand the desire not to talk about race as a way of looking progressive.


But progress isn't pretending to be color blind, it's not being blinded by the person's color.


Or gender.


Or religion.


Or sexual orientation.


Somewhere in the South, there is an openly gay high schooler who loves student government and wants to be president someday. And because of Obama, he knows if he does run, he won't have to hide.


That does not represent a shift in demographics, but a shift in thought inspired by a new reality. A reality in which the president who follows Obama could be a white woman from Arkansas by way of Illinois; a Cuban-American from Florida; or a tough white guy from Jersey. Or someone from an entirely different background. We don't know. Four years is a long time away, and no one knows how any of this will play out -- which I think is a good thing.


For a long time, we've conceived of America as the land of opportunity. Eight years ago, when it came to the presidency, that notion was rhetoric. Four years ago, it became a once in a lifetime moment. Today, it is simply a fact of life.


Ten years from now, we may not remember what the unemployment rate was when Obama was sworn in a second time, but we'll never forget how he forever changed the limits of possibility for generations to come.


Somewhere out West, there is an 80-year-old black woman who never thought she'd see the day when a black man would be elected president. Somehow I doubt Obama's second inauguration is less important to her.


Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.


Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.


The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson.






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Football: Cardiff sign Sunderland's Campbell






LONDON: Championship leaders Cardiff have signed striker Fraizer Campbell on a three-and-a-half-year deal from Premier League club Sunderland, the Welsh club announced Monday.

The 25-year-old England international scored just 10 goals in 72 appearances for Sunderland after joining the north-east side from Manchester United.

Campbell came through the Old Trafford youth system before signing professional forms with English giants United in 2006.

He had loan spells with Antwerp and Tottenham Hotspur but made his mark at Hull, scoring 15 goals in 32 starts and helping them reach English football's top flight.

After recovering from injury, he made his full England debut against the Netherlands 11 months ago but has scored just once in 15 appearances this season for the Black Cats.

Despite Cardiff sitting 10 points clear at the top of the Championship and leading the charge for promotion to the lucrative Premier League, none of their strikers have been in the goals this term.

Heidar Helgusson is Cardiff's top scorer with just seven goals in 24 starts.

-AFP/ac



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The best Inauguration Day tweets




















Singer Beyonce greets President Barack Obama at Monday's Inauguration Day swearing-in ceremony.




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • The pundits and comedians of Twitter weigh in on Monday's Inauguration Day events

  • People commented on first-family fashion, TV anchor gaffes, president's speech

  • NASA tweeted a link to a photo of the National Mall taken from space




(CNN) -- Maybe it didn't have quite the grandeur of President Barack Obama's historic inauguration four years ago. But Monday's Inauguration Day events showcased the pomp and circumstance of the U.S. government at its finest.


We may not have royal weddings in the States, but this is about as close as it gets.


And, where there is public spectacle, there is Twitter, the rapid-fire platform where the world's online social critics record their musings. From politicos to comedians to ordinary citizens, some offered heartfelt thoughts on the historical importance of the day, while others jockeyed for a cheap laugh and a few retweets.


Here are some of our favorites. (We'll be adding to this list as the day goes on.)


Barack Obama ‏-- I'm honored and grateful that we have a chance to finish what we started. Our work begins today. Let's go. -bo


Eric Cantor, House majority leader ‏-- This is a great day for all Americans to celebrate and to remember that the Capitol belongs to all.



TJ Holmes ‏-- Can't help but wonder if this is last time in my lifetime I'll get 2 see an African American take presidential oath of office. #Inaug2013


Sandra Lee ‏-- OK #inaug2013 watchers, who is that handsome teenaged boy making eyes at Malia Obama? #VeryCute


Philip DeFranco ‏-- Excited about this inauguration. If Obama sees his shadow there will be 6 more years of crippling crippling debt.


Speaker John Boehner -- Embracing #MLK's call to serve & make the most of this moment God has given us http://1.usa.gov/10gcJvH #MLKDay


Andrew Kaczynski, BuzzFeed reporter ‏-- Can't believe you guys are watching the inauguration while Scooby Doo is on.


Catherine Q -- Malia and Sasha look so sweet. And so grown up! #inaug2013



Mark Harris, EW columnist ‏-- "There's Morgan Freeman--I'm sorry, uh, sorry, Bill Russell!"--George Stephanopoulos, who will never live that down, on ABC just now.


Ana Marie Cox ‏-- Karl Rove in his basement, enacting a Romney inauguration with life-sized cardboard figures.



VI ‏-- Look at all those flags! Proud to call myself an American today


Michelle Freed ‏-- Me: Kids, come watch the Inauguration! Kids: Neat. Now, can we go watch SpongeBob upstairs? *bows head and sighs* #Inaug2013


Malcom Glenn -- Unquestionably the largest cheer so far for a jumbotron appearance has gone to Jay-Z and Beyonce...louder than Joe and Jill Biden. #inaug13



The White House ‏-- "Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people." —President Obama #inaug2013


Omar L. Gallaga ‏ -- I opened for BeyoncĂ©." -- something inaugural poet Richard Blanco gets to say forever. #inaug2013



StevieG the truth -- Obama's being inaugurated, it's Martin Luther King Day and Beyonce's singing the anthem. Black folk are having the best Monday EVER.









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Official: 3 Americans total died in Algeria attack

Updated at 12:32 p.m. ET

Two additional Americans were killed in last week's hostage standoff at a natural gas complex in Algeria, bringing the final U.S. death toll to three, a U.S. official told CBS News Monday.

Seven Americans made it out safely.

The family of Victor Lynn Lovelady told CBS affiliate KFDM-TV in Beaumont, Texas, Monday that the FBI informed them Saturday of his death.

Previously, two other deceased Americans were identified to CBS News as Frederick Buttaccio of Katy, Texas, near Houston, and Gordon Lee Rowan.

The FBI has recovered the bodies and notified all the victims' families.




Play Video


Algerian hostage crisis: Death toll now more than 80



Militants who attacked the Ain Amenas gas field in the Sahara had offered to release some of the captive Americans in exchange for the freedom of two prominent terror suspects jailed in the United States: Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind sheik convicted of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks and considered the spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

The Obama administration rejected the offer outright.

Last week's desert siege began Wednesday when Mali-based, al Qaeda-linked militants attempted to hijack two buses at the plant, were repelled, and then seized the gas refinery. They said the attack was retaliation for France's recent military intervention against Islamist rebels in neighboring Mali, but security experts argue it must have taken weeks of planning to hit the remote site.

Five Americans had been taken out of the country before Saturday's final assault by Algerian forces against the militants.

An Obama administration official told the Associated Press two further Americans survived the four-day crisis at an insecure oil rig at the facility. They were flown out to London on Saturday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

Algeria says 38 hostages of all nationalities and 29 militants died in the standoff. Five foreign workers remain unaccounted for.

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President Obama Calls for 'Collective Action'













Invoking the nation's founding values, President Obama marked the start of his second term today with a sweeping call for "collective action" to confront the economic and social challenges of America's present and future.


"That is our generation's task, to make these words, these rights, these values -- of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- real for every American," Obama said in an inaugural address delivered from the west front of the U.S. Capitol.


"Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life; it does not mean we will all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time," he said, giving nod to the yawning partisan divide.


"But it does require us to act in our time."


The call to action, on the eve of what's shaping up to be another contentious term with Republicans and Congress, aimed to reset the tone of debate in Washington and turn the page on the political battles of the past.






Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo











Inauguration 2013: President Obama's Opportunities Watch Video











Official Oath of Office 2013: President Obama Watch Video





"For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate," Obama said. "We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect."


The address, lasting a little less than 20 minutes, laid out in broad terms Obama's vision for the next four years, alluding to looming policy debates on the war in Afghanistan, deficit reduction, immigration, and overhaul of Social Security and Medicare.


Obama also became the first president, at least in recent inaugural history, to make explicit mention of equality for gay and lesbian Americans. He made repeated mentions of "climate change," something no president has said from such a platform before.


The president stuck closely to his campaign themes, offering few new details of his policy proposals, however. Those are expected to come next month in the State of the Union address Feb. 12.


Hundreds of thousands packed the National Mall in chilly 40-degree temperatures and brisk wind to hear Obama's remarks and witness the ceremonial swearing-in. While the crowds were smaller than four years ago, the U.S. Park Police said the Mall reached capacity and was closed shortly before Obama took the podium.


Shortly before the address, Obama placed his left hand on the stacked personal Bibles belonging to President Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and raised his right to repeat the oath administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.


"I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States," he said, "and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."


Obama and Biden were both officially sworn in during private ceremonies Sunday, Jan. 20, the date mandated by the Constitution for presidents to begin their terms.



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Obama's speech: Learn from Lincoln






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Julian Zelizer: Second term inaugural addresses are always a challenge

  • He says the public has had four years to make a judgment about the president

  • Obama can learn from second term speeches of Lincoln, Wilson, FDR

  • Zelizer says they did a good job of unifying America and sketching vision of the future




Editor's note: Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter" and of "Governing America."


(CNN) -- The second inaugural address is always more difficult than the first. When a president-elect first steps onto the national stage, he still enjoys a certain degree of innocence and hope. Americans are waiting to see if the new president will be different. When a new president delivers his speech, voters don't yet have a record that might make them cynical.


But by the second term, voters are familiar, and often tired, with the occupant of the White House. Even though they liked him more than his opponents, the president has usually been through some pretty tough battles and his limitations have been exposed. It becomes much harder to deliver big promises, when the people watching have a much clearer sense of your limitations and of the strength of your opponents.



Julian Zelizer

Julian Zelizer



So President Barack Obama faces a big test when he appears before the nation Monday.


Opinion: Presidents shouldn't swear in on a Bible


Obama now is Washington, and no longer someone who will be able to shake up the way Washington works. Voters believe that Congress is dysfunctional and have little confidence that legislators will respond to his proposals.


Overseas, the instability and violence in the Middle East has shaken the confidence of many Americans that Obama can achieve the kind of transformative change he promised back in 2009.



Obama, who is a student of history, can look back at some past second inaugural addresses if he wants guidance. Three of the best of these addresses offer a roadmap.


Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865: The strongest was from Lincoln, who gave his talk amid the brutality of the Civil War but chose to stress the theme of healing and unity, Lincoln gave a masterful performance that offered inspiration and encouragement for the reunification of the nation. Lincoln famously said: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." Rather than boasting of military victory or threatening Southern forces, he stepped outside the battle to offer the nation, as a whole, the path forward.










Woodrow Wilson, March 5, 1917: Although Wilson had run on a campaign to keep America out of world war, he was aware that such intervention was inevitable. During his second inaugural address, Wilson took the opportunity to start preparing the nation for what was about to come. He told America to think about the global responsibilities it had to accept, even if much of the nation was not prepared to do so. "We are provincials no longer," he said, "The tragic events of the thirty months of vital turmoil which we have just passed have made us citizens of the world. There can be no turning back."


Opinion: Why 'Hail to the Chief' remains unsung


Franklin Roosevelt, January 20, 1937: Roosevelt gave a rousing performance that outlined the fundamental vision which shaped the wide array of policies he had put forward in his first term. While many people had criticized FDR for lacking any ideology and for being a pragmatist without principle, in his second address he explained the rationale behind his actions: "I see millions denied education, recreation, and the opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their children. I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished." For Democrats, the speech remains a powerful defense of government and the rationale behind his program.


To replicate some of this success, Obama will need to figure out how to inspire a nation that is frustrated by the gridlock of Washington and the laggard state of the economy and worried about instability overseas.


Obama can learn from all three of these presidents.


Like Wilson, he can talk to Americans about goals they should aspire to achieve, ways in which the country can accept new obligations in a changing world.


Like Lincoln, he can urge the nation to move beyond the discord and division that has characterized political debate in the past four years.


Finally, like Roosevelt, he can use his speech to provide some of the justification and outlook that has shaped his policies. This would undercut the ability of Republicans to define his policies for him, as has been the case for much of his first term, and motivate supporters who have often felt that Obama remained too much of a mystery.



Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter.


Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion.


The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Julian Zelizer.






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