Under-fire Obama battles to regain control

Faced with a trio of controversies, President Barack Obama is trying to halt a perception spreading among both White House opponents and allies that he has been passive and disengaged as unexpected developments consume his second term.

The new strategy, underscored in a flurry of new White House actions, signals an Obama team anxious to regain control amid controversies that have emboldened Republicans and threatened to plunge the president’s second term into a steady stream of congressional investigations.

This week, Obama released a trove of documents related to the Benghazi attacks amid pressure from Republicans. And he asked Congress to revive a media shield law that would protect journalists from having to reveal information, a step seen as a response to the Justice Department’s widely criticised subpoenas of phone records from reporters and editors at the Associated Press. And he forced the resignation of the top official at the Internal Revenue Service after the agency targeted conservative political groups.