Barack Obama Flexs Even More Executive Power
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Barack Obama when he ran for President of the United States almost 4 years ago told us that he would not be like other presidents, specifically George W. Bush in using signing statements or executive orders in order to bypass Congress. Yet he continues to exercise more and more executive power by signing executive orders.

In fact, he is on pace with his predecessor and his total number of executive orders. George W. Bush signed a total of 290 executive orders during his 2 terms. Barack Obama has signed 115 executive orders as of March 27, 2012. Should he be re-elected, he will no doubt give the former president a run for his money with a new record total of EOs signed.

Whether it is a grab and the nations natural resources, helping the rebels in the Libyan revolution or granting states waivers from the No Child Left Behind education act, Barack Obama demonstrates that he is just like all the other politicians before him. Many people though he would be different because of his rhetoric and many of those same people feel betrayed after nearly four years of his lies on display.

Those who knew him though, knew what he was about and knew what he would do. Barack Obama made George W. Bush’s use of executive order a defining point of the Bush presidency and yet there is no doubt that Obama is set on maintaining the status quo, not changing it.

Laura Meckler of the Wall Street Journal says, “The allure of executive power, it turns out, is hard to resist. Most every chief executive has found ways to escape the shackles of the legislature and expand the power of the presidency. Three years into his first term, Mr. Obama has developed his own expansive view of going it alone, asserting new executive powers and challenging members of Congress in both parties.”

Barack Obama is “using executive orders as a political tool—’I can’t work with this Congress so I’m going to do it myself,” according to Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Graham as we have seen is one who generally supports Barack Obama’s executive orders on national security though is not usually a supporter of Obama’s domestic affairs.

While Barack Obama’s “signing statements” have been far fewer than George W. Bush (Bush had a total of 63 and Obama currently has 10), it is the executive power that he has demonstrated in the executive orders he has signed and what they are that makes him not only one that goes back on his word, but very dangerous.

In an interview with White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler, she acknowledged that Barack Obama has developed a broader view of executive power since he was a senator. She said,

“Many issues that he deals with are just on him, where the Congress doesn’t bear the burden in the same way. Until one experiences that first hand, it is difficult to appreciate fully how you need flexibility in a lot of circumstances.”

According to Michael McConnell, a conservative legal theorist at Stanford Law School, “The president is unchecked in a way the other branches are not. Any unchecked power can be misused, and yes, our checks and balances lead to gridlock, but I think gridlock’s better than unchecked power in the hands of one person.”

McConnell is correct. There needs to be a way in which the separation of powers is balanced. With the President, whether Republican or Democrat, able to make these executive orders, it appears that the real power lies in the executive branch and Congress is not keeping that power in check.

We really need men of character as our representatives who do what they say. This is the importance of looking at records. If a man has 10, 15 or 30 years of a consistent voting record then you can rest assured when the man tells you he will do something, he will do it and not deviate from that. However, when you get a thuggish community organizer, who is filled with hatred of America, is racist and his friends are Marxists in one form or another and somehow as not even a one term Senator can get to the highest office in the land, then you can be sure that he has no intention of keeping his word. He is nothing more than a common politician seeking power, not a statesman serving the people and the Constitution.

Tim Brown
FrontPorchPolitics.com