New York Times: Shift on Executive Power Lets Obama Bypass Rivals

[Patricia M. McBride]

Although the New York Times is a very liberal rag, of late they have had some almost critical commentary about Obama even though a little slant can be detected at times :). 

Some method must be found to stop this EO unilateralism from happening again.  We put all those new folks in congress to stop "the one" from doing the types of things he was doing, and he thumbed his nose at the American people and went right on doing what we wanted stopped.  He is either extremely ignorant, woefully misinformed about the wishes of the American people or he thinks the only opinion that matters is his own (I suspect the last one as he is all about ego and ideology because he believes he can do what no one in the rest of the world has ever been able to do............make Marxist/socialist policies work). 

And the problem, from where I sit, is that the congress will be hesitant to change executive power/executive orders because it also stops the republican presidents from acting unilaterally.  But right now, it is a large joke on us that this fool passing as a president actually had the audacity to criticize Bush about EO.

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Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Obama speaking in Cleveland in January. Increasingly in recent months, the Obama administration has been seeking ways to bypass Congress.    

By CHARLIE SAVAGE

Published: April 22, 2012   

WASHINGTON — One Saturday last fall, President Obamainterrupted 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. 

For Mr. Obama, that meeting was a turning point. As a senator and presidential candidate, he had criticized George W. Bush for flouting the role of Congress. And during his first two years in the White House, when Democrats controlled Congress, Mr. Obama largely worked through the legislative process to achieve his domestic policy goals.       

But increasingly in recent months, the administration has been seeking ways to act without Congress. Branding its unilateral efforts “We Can’t Wait,” a slogan that aides said Mr. Obama coined at that strategy meeting, the White House has rolled out dozens of new policies — on creating jobs for veterans, preventing drug shortages, raising fuel economy standards, curbing domestic violence and more.       

Each time, Mr. Obama has emphasized the fact that he is bypassing lawmakers. 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.       

Read more here:      http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/us/politics/shift-on-executive-po...