President Obama claims to understand and appreciate the United States Constitution and the rule of law; his actions say otherwise. Today Mr. Obama has ‘refused to take no for an answer’ in regards to his desire to appoint Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. GOP politicians have been fighting this nomination because this new arm of government will not be accountable to Congress. As Constitutional Lecturers know, one reason Congress exists is to serve as a check against excessive Executive Branch power. In what may turn out to be an illegal appointment, Mr. Cordray was today appointed by Mr. Obama. The Senate is technically still ‘in session’ but Obama made the appointment anyway.
Getting his way has been a hallmark of the Obama presidency. Barely a year into his term, Obama called out the Supreme Court justices in front of the entirenation because he did not agree with their ruling on political action committees (PAC’s). When someone says ‘with all due respect,’ or in the SCOTUS case, ‘with all due deference,’ you know that a disrespectful or non-deferential statement is incoming! This blatant disrespect of the Supreme Court was an opening salvo of Obama’s assault on the rule of law.
His greatest (illegal) hits so far:
- The Individual Mandate: Has already been ruled unconstitutional and will be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court
- The GM/Chrysler Bailout: TARP authorized the secretary of the Treasury “to purchase…troubled assets from any financial institution, on such terms and conditions as are determined by the Secretary”; the car companies were obviously not financial institutions.
- Deep-water Drilling Ban in the Gulf of Mexico: The Interior Department, under orders from Obama, issued an illegal drilling back in 2010 after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The ban was struck down by a federal judge, but was then immediately replaced by a new ban! The judge presiding over the case was shocked and stated that the administration showed a ‘determined disregard’ for his original ruling on the case.
- Appointment of powerful and unaccountable Czars: Judicial Watch pointed out in a recent report that “their activities are often outside the reach of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), creating a veil of secrecy about their precise role in the administration.” Ask yourself: why would an ‘advisor’ (that’s what Obama likes to call them) with the ability to write checks using taxpayer money not be subject to FOIA???
Obama promised transparency and honesty in his administration. However, even his base feels like they have been lied to. Michele Bachmann said, while exiting the presidential race, that this election is “the last chance to turn our country around, before we go down the road of socialism.”
