Obama: No Need To Have Checks On Presidential Power. I'm A Nice Guy.
Steve Chapman notes at reason that Obama doesn't find the notion of a president ignoring checks and balances such a bad idea when he's the one who's president:
Every so often, we get proof that Barack Obama, when confronted with a grievous abuse of government power by his administration, will do the right thing. Sometimes, I mean. When he can't get away with it anymore, that is. Just as soon as he's tried everything else.That's the case with his domestic phone records collection, which the president finally said he wants to put under tighter control than before. At moments like this, believe it or not, Obama sounds faintly like that guy who ran to replace George W. Bush.
"This administration acts like violating civil liberties is the way to enhance our security," he complained in 2007, while promising to be very different. "We will again set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers."
But it turns out Obama was not against indulging the whims of a stubborn ruler if that ruler happens to be him. Upon arriving in the White House, he left the Bush-Cheney surveillance programs largely alone. Why? "He has more information than he did then," one former aide confided to The New York Times. "And he trusts himself to use these powers more than he did the Bush administration."
The fact that Obama trusted himself with these powers is ample reason the rest of us shouldn't. But we already had sufficient cause for suspicion. Our Constitution does not show an abundance of trust in elected officials. It rests on the belief that those in power need to be curbed and checked at every turn.
Also, for Obama, parts of laws he doesn't like or that happen to be inconvenient are parts he can just decide to ignore. Michael D. Tanner wrote at Cato March 26:
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty told Alice, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."To which, Alice responded, "The question is whether you can make words mean so many different things."
Clearly Alice had not yet experienced the Wonderland that is ObamaCare.
This week the Obama administration changed the rules once again. It announced that the March 31 statutory deadline for enrolling in insurance under ObamaCare's individual mandate actually meant sometime in the middle of April, the exact date to be determined later.
Sorry, but did we elect Barack Obama president -- or king?
He's a liar who didn't even write his own books, in office because of the idea that a position requiring competency can be filled with Affirmative Action (as opposed to the Good Old Boy network, which produced Clinton and both Bushes).
What do you think "a community organizer from Chicago" IS?
I'm remembering a "used furniture salesman".
Radwaste at April 3, 2014 5:23 AM
This past weekend, Daughter #1 was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. The nightmare for her began when, after her discharge from the hospital, we went to the pharmacy to fill her many prescriptions. We were informed she wasn't covered, causing more stress for my already-stressed out child. Multiple phone calls ensued. I told the pharmacist to fill the scripts and I'd put them on my credit card and submit the receipts for reimbursement once we got the whole mess straightened out. We're still working on it.
I hate that man, and the Congress who passed this stupid shit, with the heat of a thousand suns. Invoking a million-flea-infestation of all their crotches would not even begin to pay them back for this travesty. Bastards.
Flynne at April 3, 2014 6:43 AM
He's a liar who didn't even write his own books, i
For the record, I doubt that many famous people have written their own books. I think many just approve what the ghostwriter wrote after the ghostwriter interviewed them.
Amy Alkon at April 3, 2014 6:55 AM
But he's still a liar who's not qualified to do anything but waste money, abuse power, and stir up discord.
Sosij at April 3, 2014 3:04 PM
He's a liar who didn't even write his own books,
For the record, I doubt that many famous people have written their own books. I think many just approve what the ghostwriter wrote after the ghostwriter interviewed them.
Posted by: Amy Alkon at April 3, 2014 6:55 AM
True, but most famous people admit this, and give their writer some credit. BO never has.
Isab at April 3, 2014 3:46 PM
There was an operation Gun Runner under president Bush.
The way it was set up was that both the U.S. and trusted Mexican officials knew and surveilled the Mexican buyers and the American sellers. After the Mexican government fell down on the job, and failed to intercept the buyers the program was shut down.
The BATFE and DOJ under the Obama administration created operation Fast And Furious. The way that F&F worked is that the buyers on the American side were not under constant surveillance. The Mexican government was not notified or involved at all. We have a dead border patrol agent from one of the weapons that was sold under F&F.
Somehow the Obama administration claims both programs are equivalent.
The House investigation was stalled after the DOJ claimed executive privilege on the F&F records.
And that was just one of the early abuses.
So the "Trust me becuase I'm good," doesn't sit well with me.
Jim P. at April 3, 2014 7:26 PM
"For the record, I doubt that many famous people have written their own books. I think many just approve what the ghostwriter wrote after the ghostwriter interviewed them."
Here's a tip that Amy probably already knows: you can tell in just a couple of paragraphs whether or not the particular author wrote something. For example, you can compare any two paragraphs from early Tom Clancy, such as "The Hunt for red October" to one of the works with his name on it in recent years, and there is no mistaking the presence of the ghostwriter.
Radwaste at April 4, 2014 9:14 AM
Thanx! Your article was very helpful!
GhostWriter at September 2, 2014 8:48 AM
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