In a recent email to supporters, President Obama lamented the frustrating inadequacy of his office. “There’s only so much I can do on my own” without Congress, he confessed.
As a matter of constitutional interpretation, he’s right. But in practice, the President has shown a distinct contempt for the legal limits on his power.
Obama’s imperial presidency has manifested itself in many ways. Often he willfully neglects his constitutional duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” As we’ve seen witheducation, immigration, and health care, suspending the law amounts to rewriting the law.
Other times, the President is more direct. The legislative power may be vested in Congress, but that didn’t stop him from rewriting welfare legislation on his own, hollowing out the successful federal work requirements.
Unfortunately, it appears that this is only the beginning of Obama’s imperialism.
Once liberated from the constraints of reelection, he wasted little time signaling his enthusiasm for unilateral action in his second term.
“Congress is tough right now,” he recently declared, “but that’s not going to stop me.”
Armed with electoral immunity, the President is also more candid in justifying his actions.
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