Contours of Obama's legacy form with help of unlikely allies

For a president deep into his second term, the legal and legislative victories were a vindication of policy priorities that have sapped his political capital and exposed rifts with his own Democratic Party.

While House Republicans may still hold votes to repeal the health care measure, as they have already done more than 50 times, the Senate and Obama's veto power prevent such efforts from going any further.

While Republicans are largely supportive of free trade, many of Obama's fellow Democrats fear such agreements put American workers at a disadvantage and have weak environmental protections.

On Wednesday, Obama secured the authority to get fast approval for a final Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, and on Thursday, Congress sent a workers' assistance package to his desk.

White House officials cast Obama's successful dealings with Republicans as evidence of what they had hoped would be another piece of the president's legacy: an ability to work with his political opponents and curb Washington's intense partisanship.

[...] few in the White House or elsewhere in the nation's capital expect this brief detente between Obama and the GOP to last for long, especially as they stare down deadlines this fall on taxes and spending — issues that have rivaled health care in driving deep divisions between the Democratic White House and Republican lawmakers.