Yet the administration faces significant obstacles to enacting its privacy agenda.

WSJ: Obama Administration Seeks Internet Privacy Protections, New Policy Office

In a letter introducing the report, he said resolving suspicions between the United States and Iran over Iran's nuclear program is one of the obstacles to the Obama administration's goal of new engagement between Washington and Tehran.

CNN: Report: Iran could have enough material for nuke in months

Researchers at Virginia Tech have found a way to efficiently extract hydrogen from plant materials, overcoming one of the obstacles that led the Obama Administration to put hydrogen fuel-cell technology on the back burner.

FORBES: Could Hydrogen Breakthrough Revive The Fuel-Cell Car?

"This removes all the obstacles and excuses for inaction, " one senior administration official involved in the negotiations said.

CNN: Bush tries to break stimulus deadlock

In her 2005 book "Team of Rivals, " the basis for the hit movie "Lincoln, " historian Doris Kearns Goodwin explored how Abraham Lincoln overcame some obstacles of his presidency by giving top posts in his administration to former political opponents, keeping them close by and muting their criticism.

NPR: THE RESET: Obama Picks Familiar Faces For 2nd Term