Althouse: "President Obama’s increasingly grandiose claims for presidential power are inversely proportional to his shriveling presidency."

August 15, 2013

"President Obama’s increasingly grandiose claims for presidential power are inversely proportional to his shriveling presidency."

"Desperation fuels arrogance as, barely 200 days into the 1,462 days of his second term, his pantry of excuses for failure is bare, his domestic agenda is nonexistent and his foreign policy of empty rhetorical deadlines and red lines is floundering. And at last week’s news conference he offered inconvenience as a justification for illegality."

So begins George Will's column today, which is headlined "Obama’s unconstitutional steps worse than Nixon’s."

21 comments:

Jaq said...: So what? The press was after Nixon and the press covers for Obama. Remember how heinous it was that Nixon used the IRS against his enemies? Neither do most Obama supporters.; 8/15/13, 7:39 AM
Matt Sablan said...: Nixon was dumb enough to ignore laws that only benefited him. Waiving the requirements for Congress is good for -everyone- in Congress. Waiving another section 'in consultation' with business is good for them.

What did we learn? If you plan to stick your thumb in the eye of the political process, best to do it with strong allies.; 8/15/13, 7:51 AM
JRoberts said...: I always remember that the press claimed that George H.W. Bush wanted to HAVE the job of President, but never really had much enthusiasm to DO the job of President.

If that was true for Bush 41, how much more does that claim seem to apply to Barrack Obama?

While Bush 41 seemed to have difficulty filling Reagan's shoes, he now appears to be a giant compared to our current President.; 8/15/13, 7:56 AM
AaronS said...: "what Obama did by ukase"

Is Obama a Russian or is he Nixon? So many choices. And none of these ever entered a mind in 2008. Imagine if he never ran and was still a senator. All the grandiose claims would have been better received because they would be just that - claims - and we would largely forget about them in a week. But for the Presidency there is the barest of straw structures between claim and action. And Obama has a favorite way to treat straw.

I'm not sure Will gets this but Obama doesn't care if his proclamations make any sense at all or are coherent in any way. I'm pretty sure Obama's convinced that a large section of the electorate has no idea what goes on in DC. And where is the downside to misleading the ignorant?; 8/15/13, 8:21 AM
Robert Cook said...: George Will is spot on in this column. This is how tyranny happens, through the incremental advancement of executive command decisions, from the acceptance of the notion that "special circumstances" demand (and excuse) actions by the executive or Congress or judiciary that violate the law or the constitution or both, and with no outcry from the rest of government or from the people. The constitution is supposed to act as a bar to ad hoc decisions made during "special circumstances," when judgment is least likely to be informed, prudent, or wise. (Of course, this particular matter--Obamacare and the obligations it places on members of Congress--is hardly a "special circumstance" or crisis warranting even the pretense that such executive dictates are necessary or justified.); 8/15/13, 9:00 AM
Wince said...: ...inversely proportional to his shriveling presidency.

Obama on vacation, "I was in the pool! I was in the pool!"; 8/15/13, 9:26 AM
damianlewis719 said...: It's only illegal if someone takes it to court, sues, and wins.; 8/15/13, 9:37 AM
traditionalguy said...: We hired Obama to Community re-organize us which meant we knew that we needed to be raised and rebuilt; rebuilt as a post industrial, post Christian, post world Hegemon, and post racially divided country.

Obama only knew the raise part. He has never built anything except a rebellion. And neither has Hillary.; 8/15/13, 10:20 AM
Levi Starks said...: It becomes ever more difficult for Obama to admire the reflected image of his greatness as the surface of the pool becomes covered with the discarded words which fall from his lips like the vomit from a man drunk with power.; 8/15/13, 10:26 AM
Levi Starks said...: It becomes ever more difficult for Obama to admire the reflected image of his greatness as the surface of the pool becomes covered with the discarded words which fall from his lips like the vomit from a man drunk with power.; 8/15/13, 10:26 AM
Oso Negro said...: The receptivity of the average American for tyranny seems pretty high right now. It is hard to envision a happy ending for the present historical epoch.; 8/15/13, 10:32 AM
n.n said...: Progressive Corruption.

Obama set the precedent for illegal actions almost from his first day in office, when he violated the civil rights of thousands of GM workers in order to reward union financial and moral support for his candidacy.; 8/15/13, 11:15 AM
cubanbob said...: I'm not sure Will gets this but Obama doesn't care if his proclamations make any sense at all or are coherent in any way. I'm pretty sure Obama's convinced that a large section of the electorate has no idea what goes on in DC. And where is the downside to misleading the ignorant?

8/15/13, 8:21 AM

A wise observation indeed. The thing is the people have become so inured to scandal and arrogant high-handed government that nothing really angers them enough to push back. Either they are bought of by a government check or the hopes for one or they cowed in to acquiescence (like the TEA Party by the IRS). What will get the public really outraged at this point is really unknown.; 8/15/13, 11:26 AM
Richard Dolan said...: It will be interesting to see how the lefty pundits respond to the constitutional argument being made by Will and others (Hindraker has a similar piece at Powerline, e.g.). On the one hand, the lefties don't want to attack O; on the other, they are bound to be concerned about expansive powergrabs by the executive, since the presidency has a habit of switching between the parties every 8 years or so.; 8/15/13, 11:28 AM
Paul said...: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold" Yeats

And so Obama's administration slowly crumbles.

His drone campaign has failed to 'decimate' Al Qaeda.

Obamacare's train wreck is in mid-crash.

Obamanomics has brought nothing but part-time jobs.

The national debt is now just beyond solving with todays economy.

So what is left?

Hope and change.... truth to power.... and other empty slogans.

And that is all.; 8/15/13, 12:07 PM
Levi Starks said...: I like that... HIs administration viewed as a slow motion train wreck.
It brings back memories of the movie Inception. It's a dream within a dream within a dream. All happening during those few fleeting seconds between when the van left the bridge, and when it hit the water.; 8/15/13, 1:53 PM
Cedarford said...: Nixon was a real leader, was competent and cared deeply about the country..even though his tactics were ethically challengable.

Carter - well, you could say he cared deeply about his country and had some moral compass...but that is all you can say.

Clinton was much the same, though he got cover from the DC and NYC media on the ethics stuff most of his Presidency. And just as bad as the Republicans in gutting US industry for more donor dollars -in the name of free trade and globalism.

Dubya cared deeply about the country and was ethically strong...but he fancied himself an American Churchill and didn't score well on the leadership & competency charts. A bumbler led by his nose by the Neocons and McCain..

But Obama is the worst. Abysmal leader, incompetent, doesn't care about the country, perhaps even more ethically challenged than LBJ, FDR, Nixon, or JFK.; 8/15/13, 2:49 PM
Paul said...: "The thing is the people have become so inured to scandal and arrogant high-handed government that nothing really angers them enough to push back."

I don't believe that's the case. People respond to scandal in proportion to the media's coverage.

Think Abu Graib, Iran Contra, Watergate. That is scandals that involved Republicans.

We were hammered relentlessly with media coverage of these affairs but Obama's numerous and far more serious scandals have been covered as little as possible, and covered up as much as possible.

Thus they get no traction with the public. Out of sight out of mind.

The Democrat party including it's PR wing, the media, is a corrupt, criminal enterprise from top to bottom. There is no consequence for lawless behavior so it accumulates and accelerates.

Under a President Hillary Clinton the current bunch of criminals will seem to have been mere amateurs compared to the Clinton crew.; 8/15/13, 4:04 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Ann, could you give your view of the constitutional question here? It seems to me that Will is right: The executive branch can refuse to enforce provisions it thinks are unconstitutional, but not provisions it thinks are merely inconvenient. On what grounds is the executive branch arguing here?; 8/15/13, 7:39 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: We hired Obama to Community re-organize us which meant we knew that we needed to be raised and rebuilt...

"Razed", TD. The word you're looking for is "razed".; 8/15/13, 10:37 PM
Carl said...: Will's right. There is something about Obama that suggests a man with a shriveled...er..."Presidency." He throws like a girl, talks like a girl, his worst faults (bitchiness, narcissism, sneakiness) are those of a bad girl and even his strengths (even-temperedness, restraint, allure) are those of a good woman.

Upside: no intern follies. Or is that a downside? You know, back in the Kennedy Administration we were secretly proud that young women wanted to suck the cock of the Leader of the Free World. It seemed virile, you know, like carrying around the nuclear football.

O tempora, o mores. Like Bradley Manning, we are our a nation with sad sexual identity issues, so it's only appropriate we have a Ken doll President.; 8/16/13, 3:51 AM