Inside Story - Obama: Lame duck president?

Barack Obama is facing the prospect of spending his final two years in office as a lame duck president. His popularity had already fallen to new lows, as he lurched from crisis to crisis, at home and overseas. Now voters have dealt him a punishing blow in midterm elections. Republicans have seized control of the Senate from his Democrats. It means they now hold both Houses of Congress. Republicans had described the vote as a referendum on Obama's presidency. He will now have to contend with a Congress controlled by a party firmly opposed to his policies. So will the next two years usher in a new era of political conflict or a period of cooperation and compromise as both parties gear up for an all-out battle for the White House in 2016?