Obama said ready to rule by decree with Executive Powers

Quite the sensational headline,
yet the content of the article is still very disturbing.
Have we really come to the place where it's completely broken, and the vanity on either side of the aisle is so blinded and consumed by its own ego and madness that co-operation and service to the voters and the country is gone?
washingtonexaminer.com...

In response, Obama is expected to make more frequent use of executive orders, vetoes, signing statements and policy initiatives that originate within the federal agencies to maneuver around congressional Republicans who are threatening to derail initiatives he has already put in place, including health care reforms, and to launch serial investigations into his administration's spending.

It would seem that the partial purge just wasnt enough.

But I guess with these clouds overhead and the others looming, you can only hope you have enough toilet paper for the approaching feces storm.

National Debt Tops $14 Trillion
www.cbsnews.com...

Court OKs searches of cell phones without warrant
www.sfgate.com.../c/a/2011/01/03/BA5N1H3G12.DTL&tsp=1

Fed sees Europe as potential threat to US recovery
www.google.com...

This would be a continuation of the Bush presidency's strategy towards unpopular lawmaking. No shock there, actually. Furthermore, it is yet another fully demonstrated example of Obama the Dishonest.

I guess he misunderstood the question...

reply to post by HappilyEverAfter


No, I do not know where I got the info-this is why I am saying it-I heard that the administration had some meetings with former Senators amongst other peeps. From this meeting they were discussing the powers of the Executive Branch. Just as Bush did when he began the regime of pushing their weight around.

Now, this is the reasoning behind the separation of powers. The legislative branch can pass all the law they want, so what, if the executive branch decides not to enforce those laws, what do you have?

With the power of the House, you have the purse strings, this is their most important power. Let us say the Executive Branch wants to do something, how are they going to do it without any money?

Then you have the lowly Judicial Branch, all they can do is by decree make a law null and void.

I am looking forward to the next few years. Things are going to be very, very, very interesting (say it with the Boris voice inflection),

reply to post by saltheart foamfollower


Took the words right out of my mouth ( or finger tips depending how you look at it ). I was going to mention the " purse strings " owned by the Repubs in the house.

reply to post by burdman30ott6



That's a pretty hard video to deny, but I'm sure there will be some new 'language' created to justify 'forgetting'.
They all pretty much make me sick anymore,
and all I know is when a body gets sick, and we as a national body are very sick,
sometimes you need a bold procedure, an invasive bold removal of the life sucking tumors that have taken up residence within.
Pretty damn scary days ahead if you ask me.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


That video, though some will argue its " interpretation " was not only valid Proof, but evidence that substantiates our claim ( the public ) that Obama, has no idea what type of grave he's dug for himself. He stood there in front of those good people and blatantly lied to them, to their faces none the less. Almost seems like a spin off of Clinton, " I did not have sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky". yup, there's another well documented lie. Kinda of the same routine with them libs huh?

reply to post by Whereweheaded


My friend, time heals minor wounds. While I allowed myself to get ruffled over Clinton's blatent Lewinski lie back in the 90's, over a decade of time passed has presented me with the chance to recognize the huge difference between a personal lie and a professional lie. A personal lie, while highly distastefull, causes little lingering damage to anyone outside of the liars' personal sphere of relationships... a professional lie, however, has the very real potential to bring down the entire corporation.

reply to post by saltheart foamfollower

Then you have the lowly Judicial Branch, all they can do is by decree make a law null and void.

Not quite. There is such a thing as "case law" that is law based on judicial decision and precedent rather than on statutes.

reply to post by crimvelvet


You know, I despise the judicial branch the most.

Why you may ask, because they use this PRECEDENT thingy. I have ALWAYS found that component to be despicable. All law is supposed to be based on previous law, not decree.

What I am getting at, let us say there is something related to another case, the court should always reference the first component first. What I am getting at is the law of physics or mathematics. When referencing anything in any law, be it legislative or mathematical, you build upon what has been proven to be true.

You do NOT base your findings upon other hypothesis' but by something that cannot be disproven, so to speak.

I hate precedent. e.g. the rule in California that forced everyone to give bodily fluids anytime that the government wants. That little component has devastated law as it was first conceived.

Anyway, thanks for the discussion and I may have gone off at a tangent.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


Though i agree with you, I think I'm more perturbed by the mere fact that lying is lying. And when a national figure like the POTUS get's on national television, and openly lies....thats bad regardless.

The thing of it is,
it's so hard to NOT find a liar after election day.
So now, like Bush paved the way for, we will see gridlock, chaos, wasted time and money and all the drama queens float to the surface,
I wouldnt be surprised if an "event" worthy of directive 51 happens somewhere soon, to really tip the balance to the extreme.
Perfect storm set up and brewing to make huge forward thrusts in the agenda to send us all backwards.
Sometime I wonder if we'd ever be ripe for a military coup.

It seems that Obama's trying to do it to bypass the will of congress... Obama is starting to look a lot like Bush.

White House officials said the increased focus on executive authority reflected a natural evolution from the first year to the second year of any presidency.

“The challenges we had to address in 2009 ensured that the center of action would be in Congress,” said Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director. “In 2010, executive actions will also play a key role in advancing the agenda.”

The use of executive authority during times of legislative inertia is hardly new; former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush turned to such powers at various moments in their presidencies, and Mr. Emanuel was in the thick of carrying out the strategy during his days as a top official in the Clinton White House.

But Mr. Obama has to be careful how he proceeds because he has been critical of both Mr. Clinton’s penchant for expending presidential capital on small-bore initiatives, like school uniforms, and Mr. Bush’s expansive assertions of executive authority, like the secret program of wiretapping without warrants.

Already, Mr. Obama has had to reconcile his campaign-trail criticism of Mr. Bush for excessive use of so-called signing statements to bypass parts of legislation with his own use of such tactics. After a bipartisan furor in Congress last year, Mr. Obama stopped issuing such signing statements, but aides said last month that he still reserves the right to ignore sections of bills he considers unconstitutional if objections have been lodged previously by the executive branch.

Another drawback of the executive power strategy is that actions taken unilaterally by the executive branch may not be as enduring as decisions made through acts of Congress signed into law by a president. For instance, while the E.P.A. has been determined to have the authority to regulate carbon emissions, the administration would rather have a market-based system of pollution permits, called cap and trade, that requires legislation.

Still, presidents have logged significant accomplishments through the stroke of a pen. In 1996, on his own authority, Mr. Clinton turned a 2,600-square-mile section of southern Utah into the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, in what was called at the time his boldest environmental move. Mr. Bush followed suit in 2006 by designating a 140,000-square-mile stretch of islands and ocean near Hawaii as the largest protected marine reserve in the world, in what some see as his most lasting environmental achievement.

The use of executive power came to a head this week when Mr. Obama confronted Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, about nominations held up in the Senate. In a meeting with Congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday, Mr. Obama turned to Mr. McConnell and vowed to use his power to appoint officials during Senate recesses if his nominations were not cleared.

www.nytimes.com...

reply to post by Frankidealist35

It seems that Obama's trying to do it to bypass the will of congress... Obama is starting to look a lot like Bush.

Careful, you will have the apparatchik at your place tomorrow.

You will not denigrate the party!

Anyway, I watched the opening of the 112th Congress, you know what I saw? The Democrats blaming the Rethugs for the last 4 years. Even though they controlled the purse strings, the Rethugs are to blame.

You know what, the DEMONRATS are the most vile creatures to ever walk the political landscape. They PROVED IT TODAY. They LIED from the first vote at #5 in the 112th Congress.

Hey backers of the Democrats, how do you feel about your liars now?

reply to post by Frankidealist35


I'd agree with that,
Seems like 'he' is doing a good Bush impersonation all along,
BUT
anyone else who would have been put into that seat would have had to pull off the same task.
It's just one long steady chain for the same interests and agendas.
It's really becoming revealing, so revealing that Stevie Wonder can see it!

reply to post by saltheart foamfollower


Neither Democrats nor Republicans are responsible for the economy. I can tell you that much. You need to take a basic economics course and learn about the federal reserve and fractional reserve banking. Read about the mortgage crisis, AIG, Goldman Sachs, and the international banking system and see how it all interplays with the global crisis. Our constitutional crisis was brought about by both the Democrats and Republican,s but they are separate but very important issues.

reply to post by saltheart foamfollower

I watched it as well,
pretty amazing how dysfunctional they all are,
I drink because you bother me, I bother you because you drink,
and we sit there and watch like powerless children,
sooner or later though, the kids either going to grow up and knock someone on their ass,
or just join the dysfunction,
but my hope is with all of the ways of communicating today, the "kid" becomes informed and empowered and breaks the cycle.

It sounds like he has been trying not to abuse his executive power and rubber stamping most stuff congress can finally decide upon. However with more vested and special interests involved in congress these days, the public interest has become a very soft voice amongst all the noise. All the gridlock maybe a good thing as they cannot stuff up the country any more. The government system does need to look closely at how things have been working.