13 reasons Obama just can't even this week

1. This big climate-change denier will now run the Senate’s environment committee.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (Sue Ogrocki, File/AP Photo)

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2. Joni Ernst will be a senator, too. She once said it’d be OK for states to nullify federal laws.

Sen.-elect Joni Ernst (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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3. Mitch McConnell’s getting a promotion. Those two do not get along.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

4. And John McCain, a loud critic on foreign-policy issues, is gonna run the Armed Services Committee.

Sen. John McCain, left (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

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5. In Maine, “America’s craziest governor” beat a Democrat who could have become the first openly gay governor in U.S. history.

Gov. Paul LePage (Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)

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6. And in Arkansas, Tom Cotton rode Obamacare discontent all the way to the U.S. Senate.

Sen.-elect Tom Cotton (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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7. Barack and Michelle both trekked to Maryland to campaign for the gubernatorial candidate there. He lost. Now there’s a Republican governor of Maryland for just the second time in four decades.

Gov.-elect Larry Hogan (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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8. After Obama won big in 2012, Democrats crowed about turning Texas blue. But Wendy Davis ran a terrible campaign and got trounced.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis (Eric Kayne/Getty Images)

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9. Democrats made him a poster boy for “outsourcing,” but Georgia’s David Perdue still won easily.

Sen.-elect David Perdue (Jason Getz/Getty Images)

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10. Poor Martha Coakley lost again.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Martha Coakley (Michael Dwyer/AP Photo)

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11. Obama delayed action on immigration to help out Dems in red states. In Colorado, it may have hurt Mark Udall, who lost to Cory Gardner.

Sen.-elect Cory Gardner (Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)

12. Scott Walker beat a Democrat for the third time in four years. Now, the guy labor unions love to hate has put himself in prime position to run for president in 2016.

Gov. Scott Walker (Darren Hauck/Getty Images)

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13. A 20-count federal indictment for tax fraud and telling a reporter “I’ll break you in half…like a boy” couldn’t stop this Staten Island Republican from coasting to reelection.

Rep. Michael Grimm (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

Jordan Fabian is Fusion’s politics editor, writing about campaigns, Congress, immigration, and more. When he’s not working, you can find him at the ice rink or at home with his wife, Melissa.

Ted Hesson was formerly the immigration editor at Fusion, covering the issue from Washington, D.C. He also writes about drug laws and (occasionally) baseball. On the side: guitars, urban biking, and fiction.