| President Ramping Up Unprecedented Power Grab |
| Apr-23-2012 |
| Keywords: obama, circumvent congress, executive powers |
The New York Times is recounting how President Obama decided that his power, not Congress or the Supreme Court, is going to shape this countries future. For better or for worse is still to be seen. But you can bank on the fact that his rampant use of executive orders is making plenty across the nation nervous.
One Saturday last fall, President Obama interrupted a White House strategy meeting to raise an issue not on the agenda. He declared, aides recalled, that the administration needed to more aggressively use executive power to govern in the face of Congressional obstructionism.
"We had been attempting to highlight the inability of Congress to do anything," recalled William M. Daley, who was the White House chief of staff at the time. "The president expressed frustration, saying we have got to scour everything and push the envelope in finding things we can do on our own."
The NY Times describes this meeting as a turning point for both the president and the country. The same man who as a presidential candidate and Senator criticized his predecessor for his use of executive orders, was now embarking on a power grab not seen in recent history.
In recent months the Obama administration has been cloaking its power grab with a catchy slogan, "We Can't Wait."
And seemingly every time the president pens one of this unilateral orders, the administration tags it as an effort to bypass a dysfunctional Congress. Dysfunctional seemingly code for a body of lawmakers unwilling to provide what the president is asking for.
When he announced a cut in refinancing fees for federally insured mortgages last month, for example, he said: "If Congress refuses to act, I've said that I'll continue to do everything in my power to act without them."
Aides say many more such moves are coming. Not just a short-term shift in governing style and a re-election strategy, Mr. Obama's increasingly assertive use of executive action could foreshadow pitched battles over the separation of powers in his second term, should he win and Republicans consolidate their power in Congress.
Just today President Barack Obama signed an executive order allowing the U.S. government to block the sale of any technology used to track or monitor dissidents in Syria and Iran by the governments there. Only issue is that anyone who has used technology to crackdown on dissidents already has it. Day late and a dollar short Mr. President.
Read more about the president's unprecedented power grab: Shift on Executive Power Lets Obama Bypass Rivals |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 1:00 PM Email to a friend |
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