Obama is really the president of this nation...

In the end, President Barack Obama got exactly what he said he wanted — a debt-limit increase, an extension of the federal government’s funding, and no overly binding strings attached — and he did it by keeping faith with his unusual watchwords: No negotiation.

Experience had taught Republicans, and even Democrats, that he would wilt. Obama had agreed to austere spending limitations and big tax cuts in past budget showdowns. And Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert joked earlier this month that the president needed a transplant of vital pieces of male anatomy to take a strong stand on the debt limit and federal spending this time around.

But Obama stood his ground, beating back GOP efforts to extract concessions such as major changes to his health care law.

It's tempting to see in all of this (the challenge, the resolve, the victory) the makings for what the future might mark as the turning point for a presidency that appeared to be heading in a direction that was leaving the race of the leader as its sole distinction.