Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama's agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political damage control by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the White House.
In a week when the White House was repeatedly assailed over the the federal tax collection agency's targeting of conservative groups, the attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, and the Justice Department's secret seizure of Associated Press phone records, sweeping immigration legislation advanced methodically toward bipartisan approval in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A bipartisan House group also reported agreement in principle toward an immigration compromise which looms as Obama's best chance for a signature second-term achievement. And Obama's nominee for energy secretary was confirmed 97 to 0.
