NBC News: “There are still years, potentially decades, that Obama could serve his country and build an even more lasting legacy — one that he might have set aside in his desire to become president. Should Obama re-enter the Senate, more than a decade after he left, he’d have the chance to be the workhorse that his former rival-turned-colleague Hillary Clinton became after she crossed over from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. A legislative world without the filibuster — as Obama recently endorsed — would be a far different one from what he’d left behind as president. A Democratic majority in Congress could actually advance the legislation he was unable to push through during his two terms. A returning Sen. Barack Obama would have a hand in crafting the immigration reform that the country requires, potentially moving beyond the package that nearly passed Congress early in his second term.”

“He could write and lobby for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to become the law of the land, rather than an executive order on shaky legal ground. With his legal mind and view of racial justice, Obama could tackle recrafting the Voting Rights Act, which was gutted in his second term, which would be an even finer tribute to the late Rep. John Lewis than his incredible eulogy. And he could finally make good on his promise after the Sandy Hook massacre to institute the kind of gun control legislation that died an ignoble death in the Senate in 2013. Plus, can you imagine Obama working in the Senate alongside his 2012 rival, Mitt Romney? The mind reels.”