From Obama Care to a jobless recovery to Benghazi and now Ukraine, the second term is starting to feel like one gigantic "pain in the you know what."  

Am I the only one who thinks that President Obama keeps looking at his watch and hoping that January 20, 2017 gets here and very quickly?

Ukraine is the latest test to "hope and change,"  as Scott Wilson wrote over the weekend:

"Rarely has a threat from a U.S. president been dismissed as quickly — and comprehensively — as Obama’s warning Friday night to Russian President Vladi­mir Putin. The former community organizer and the former Cold Warrior share the barest of common interests, and their relationship has been defined far more by the vastly different ways they see everything from gay rights to history’s legacy.  

Obama called Putin on Saturday and expressed “deep concern over Russia’s clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is a breach of international law,” the White House said.  

From a White House podium late Friday, Obama told the Russian government that “there will be costs” for any military foray into Ukraine, including the semiautonomous region of Crimea, a strategically important peninsula on the Black Sea.  

Within hours, Putin asked the Russian parliament for approval to send forces into Ukraine. The vote endorsing his request was unanimous, Obama’s warning drowned out by lawmakers’ rousing rendition of Russia’s national anthem at the end of the session. Russian troops now control the Crimean Peninsula."

Let me translate by remembering "Hello Goodbye" by The Beatles:  "You say stop and I say go go go..."

What we are seeing in Ukraine is a perfect storm or another story of a bully who thinks that the guy on the other side won't stop him.

Putin knows that he can get away with marching into the Ukraine.  In fact, one gets the feeling that he's been planning this for some time.    

Putin also knows that President Obama is tied down with environmentalists who won't let him build the Keystone Pipeline or develop our energy resources.   

We could put Putin out of business by flooding the world with oil and natural gas, as KT McFarland explains.  It would be a very different world if we had our own oil to consume and wouldn't have to buy it in a marketplace run by Putin and Arab despots.

However, Putin has bet that it won't happen as long as Obama is president. So don't be surprised if Putin adds more real estate before he decides that his plan is complete.

In the meantime, President Obama watches helplessly and remembers how we once mocked Mitt Romney for bringing up Russia in a presidential debate. 

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.