Here's an analysis of major government failures over the past few presidents. It's a very interesting analysis that tries to do a bit of "root cause" work.
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2014/07/light%20cascade%20of%20failures/light_cascade%20of%20failures_why%20govt%20fails.pdf
Some of you may find it interesting.
some of you may just scream angrily that there never were failures until obama became president.