Althouse: "Obama feels liberated..."

December 18, 2014

"Obama feels liberated..."

"... and sees the recent flurry of aggressive executive action and deal-making as a pivot for him to spend his final two years in office being more the president he always wanted to be."

54 comments:

Michael K said...: It might bring him a veto proof majority in Congress, too. There might be enough Democrats with a sense of self-preservation be part of it.

Although you can't tell about these present day Democrats. Over the cliff might just be their thing.; 12/18/14, 9:34 AM
SGT Ted said...: And the president he wants to be is remarkably similar to a third world dictator. He should be removed from office, but he won't be, due to Democrat Party lawlessness and power seeking.; 12/18/14, 9:34 AM
TRISTRAM said...: God have mercy on us.; 12/18/14, 9:36 AM
chickelit said...: The penis mightier than the sword.; 12/18/14, 9:37 AM
Matt Sablan said...: In short, he's got some flexibility after the election!; 12/18/14, 9:39 AM
Anonymous said...: The writer needed knee pads for this one; 12/18/14, 9:41 AM
Nonapod said...: Things are going to be grim these next 2 years. Many Liberals believe that America needs to be punished for all its past transgressions, and now they have a president on their side with seemingly nothing to lose.; 12/18/14, 9:41 AM
Henry said...: Reminds me of the big Somali Pirate reset of 2009.

In seriousness, the opening of diplomatic relations is a pretty big deal, though it was always in his power.; 12/18/14, 9:41 AM
garage mahal said...: Hold me!; 12/18/14, 9:43 AM
wendybar said...: He is one, with Fidel. Dictators to the end.; 12/18/14, 9:43 AM
DanTheMan said...: >>being more the president he always wanted to be."

His oath of office requires him to be more the president the country needs him to be.

Not hard to see which he regards are more important: himself, or the country.; 12/18/14, 9:44 AM
lgv said...: "...the president he always wante to be." Which is a benevolent (in his own mind) dictator.; 12/18/14, 9:44 AM
jacksonjay said...: So, Swaggy Valet and Pope Frank team-up to give the blood-thirsty Cuban Bros everything they want. Big win for the Commies! We get a bed-wettin, do-goodin, Che-worshipin hostage in return. Great Deal! Mikey Moore is celebrating a Cuban win. That a tell! Reminds me of his "flexibility" with the Afghanistan deserter.

Can Swaggy get another Nobel Prize?; 12/18/14, 9:45 AM
jacksonjay said...: This is what Chris Rock predicted during the 2012 campaign, Gangsta Shit.; 12/18/14, 9:48 AM
Hagar said...: Obama Unchained!

It will probably lead to disaster for the Democrats in 2016, but I do not think that is a problem for either Obama or the progressives, in their different ways. May even be a feature rather than a bug.

He should be impeached, but that is not going to happen.
However, we may venture an Amendment that will severely restrict future presidents, which will cause other problems in the future. I do not think he cares about that either.; 12/18/14, 9:52 AM
Big Mike said...: I'm starting to look at 2016 Republican candidates from the perspective of who is best equipped by skills and temperament to clean up a major mess.; 12/18/14, 9:56 AM
kcom said...: "...being the president he always wanted to be."

Which clearly demonstrates he doesn't understand the office. And never has. It's a leadership position in a political system. It's not a pope for America.; 12/18/14, 9:57 AM
George M. Spencer said...: 25 more months. There will be more wreckage. Much more.; 12/18/14, 9:59 AM
PB said...: Except he didn't have the balls to do it when he was elected and had complete filibuster-proof majority in Congress.

He now understands the power of the office of president can be essentially unchecked with a Congress unwilling to impeach and remove him from office no matter what he does.

He understand the office, he just doesn't respect the institution and its relationship to Congress and the responsibility to the country.; 12/18/14, 10:02 AM
sdharms said...: for 2016, we will need someone to clean up a huge mess. we will need a decisive FIGHTER. not a go along to get along (like JEB or Mittens) . and I DONT MEAN CHRISTIE. He picks fights that dont need picking. We need someone to figuratively die on the hill of the Constitution and with Adam Smith at his side: peace, low taxes and RULE OF LAW.; 12/18/14, 10:03 AM
Hagar said...: He is not making deals with anybody we want him to be making "deals" with.; 12/18/14, 10:08 AM
Anonymous said...: I think King Putt is going to come up against some pretty hard realities known as "red tape" and realize, soon enough, that the government isn't shovel ready.

His Immigration "memo" for example. He is trying to create three new task forces. He thinks he can snap his fingers and a new task force will appear. He doesn't realize the minutiae of such things. It'll take at least two years to set something like that up.

Regardless, he's creating a wonderful legacy for himself. One in which America regrets what it has done.

I can only hope that the next time someone like our hostess thinks about voting for a Democrat she thinks to herself first, "Will this be another Barack Obama mistake?"

Because that's how he should go down in history. As a lesson in wisdom to everyone who voted for him.; 12/18/14, 10:24 AM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Tag:
Obama's decline; 12/18/14, 10:42 AM
Rae said...: The triumvirate of Obama/Pelosi/Reid have reinvigorated the Republican Party more than any of their last three presidential candidates ever could have. My hat is off to them.; 12/18/14, 10:44 AM
Sebastian said...: This must be the pragmatic president some law professors voted for back in '08.; 12/18/14, 10:59 AM
mccullough said...: Clarity is good.
Better a Senate with 30 Liz Warrens and 5 governors like Jerry Brown than what the Dems have now.; 12/18/14, 11:10 AM
Michael K said...: "Better a Senate with 30 Liz Warrens and 5 governors like Jerry Brown than what the Dems have now."

What do they have that is different ?; 12/18/14, 11:18 AM
Hagar said...: More numbers.
30 senators and 5 governors is about what the Republicans had in 1934.; 12/18/14, 11:21 AM
AustinRoth said...: King. The King he always wanted to be.; 12/18/14, 11:24 AM
machine said...: He should set up dungeons around the world and start torturin...oh wait.

never mind.; 12/18/14, 11:29 AM
Anonymous said...: Poor, Obama, he needs liberation.

Can we liberate him from the Presidency all together?; 12/18/14, 11:32 AM
mikee said...: Obama for the next two years will be very, very bad.

But I hope to all gods listening that we never experience a lame duck Hillary as president.

She'd likely sell the western states back to Mexico and give Alaska back to the Russians, for a start on the first Wednesday in November.; 12/18/14, 11:37 AM
Beldar said...: He's never wanted to be President. He wants to be king. Presidents lead. Kings can do no wrong.; 12/18/14, 11:39 AM
Hagar said...: More like doing a wrecking job and hoping (if that is the word) a society more to his liking will rise like Bird Phoenix from the ashes.; 12/18/14, 11:59 AM
Hagar said...: But that will be someone else's problem. He is a wrecker, not a builder.; 12/18/14, 12:02 PM
Richard Dolan said...: The president O wanted to be was the TV version he got used to from West Wing. It's the kind you can be by reading a script, preferably from the teleprompter rather than memorizing the lines. And that's what he's doing -- giving a speech, and expecting everything will fall into place.

Sometimes it might even work, as it probably will with the immigration policies he's put in place. Since the 'action' those policies aim at is inaction by the feds in enforcing various statutes, he can make that happen (more or less). But the rest is mostly just hype. The climate change deal with China is words without substance -- nothing he can make happen in the US on his own, and China didn't even commit to do anything either. The Obamacare rewrite, as a way around statutory restrictions, is likely to get knocked down by the SCOTUS. The resulting mess will be all on him. The Iran and Cuba deals are just a continuation of the apology tour in different form, and will have the same unhappy ending (both diplomatic and political). When O moves against Israel, as he will undoubtedly do, he will split the Dem caucus in the Senate beyond repair (to say nothing of a key element of Dem support among voters). And net neutrality will be rendered obsolete by technological advances before it ever has any impact, assuming the FCC tries to push it through and Congress doesn't prohibit them for doing so in the 2015 budget.

"Aggressive executive action," you say. Oh, please. O is the same failed president preferring golf to governing we've come to know over the last 6 years. Nothing new here, just all PR nonsense from the usual flacks.; 12/18/14, 12:15 PM
Bilwick said...: "The president O wanted to be was the TV version he got used to from West Wing."

I would have guessed that "Il Dufe" got his idea of the president he would like to be from this movie:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024044/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

(Although the plot summary needs revision--from "incorruptible statesman" to "fascist dictator."); 12/18/14, 12:29 PM
garage mahal said...: I'm torn between feeling that Obama is a tyrant hell-bent on destroying America with all these executive actions, and feeling that they are just meaningless, empty gestures from a neutered wimp.; 12/18/14, 12:39 PM
Kyzer SoSay said...: He's worse than both of those things. He's a wimp with a gun, an enemies list, nothing to lose, and 2 years to make as many of his dreams (from his Commie baby daddy) come true as possible.; 12/18/14, 1:02 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Shouldn't it be "being more the president he always wanted to be...suckers!"?

Richard Dolan said...
The president O wanted to be was the TV version he got used to from West Wing.

Yes. The troubling thing, though, is that it's very likely that a West Wing kind of President is what a large percentage of the voters who elected him in fact wanted. One relatively unreflective (shallow) political amateur making it to the highest office in the nation through personal charisma and unique circumstances--that's not great but it's survivable. If that is to be more the norm, though, because (enough) people LIKE the idea/LIKE the kind of person who embodies that empty Sorkin-esque platitudinal worldview...that's a much worse reality to live in.; 12/18/14, 1:19 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: I recall leftist outrage at W's "lawless" use of executive orders and memoranda. The unitary executive run amok, they claimed.

But now it's doughnuts and dildos when Obama takes action that they would have wailed about -- "Imperial Presidency!" "War criminal!"

In truth, leftists love military strongmen making decisions.; 12/18/14, 1:34 PM
Hagar said...: John Tyler got elected as a Whig with William Henry Harrison in 1840, but then sought refuge with the Democrats when he became president. Such is politics.
Obama is different - he really says "a pox on both your houses; I don't need you anymore."

I don't think there is much in this for Democrats to jubilate about.; 12/18/14, 2:08 PM
jr565 said...: Once he decides he's the emperor he doesn't need congress anymore.
Democracy is only a means to an end. If they dems can't get past the filibuster rules, change the rules. If suddenly the president no longer has the senate, why then suddenly he can just use executive powers.
For all the talk of Bush being an imperial president, really we had to wait for Obama to get it.; 12/18/14, 2:27 PM
Anonymous said...: I don't think there is much in this for Democrats to jubilate about.

It depends.

If you're a Democrat because of the platform of the Democrat party (Which is what, exactly? I'm not really clear anymore) then probably true.

But I suspect most Democrats are Democrats because they hate Republicans. Have you not noticed how giddy Garage is over his actions? If Garage weren't already a Democrat, he'd probably be signing up.

It's not about ideology anymore. It's about hating the other guy. Because they are stupid, clinging to their guns and their Bible's, lovers of whores like Sarah Palin and oreo's like Ben Carson.

If Obama started lining us up and shooting us against a wall, guys like Garage would volunteer to hold the rifle, because we deserve such treatment.; 12/18/14, 3:36 PM
Michael said...: Nah, this will be over in a few weeks. The Republicans will be driving him crazy for the next two years. Expect an acceleration of golf outings as these "executive" orders decline.; 12/18/14, 4:26 PM
The Godfather said...: If Obama really does push the "rule by decree" bit (and I say "if" because I'm not sure he's going to go much beyond what he's done so far), then there's an opportunity for some Republican to capture the 2016 nomination by opposing Obama and becoming the hero of constitutional government. This would almost have to be someone in Congress -- a governor could criticize, but there's not much that (say) Walker or Christie or Perry could do about it. But now Cruz or Rubio or Paul or even Ryan COULD try out for the hero role. My guess is that Paul is the only one with the smarts and savvy to do it -- and I'm not at all sure that he could. It would be high-risk, high reward, like betting the trifecta.

But it would make the next two years interesting.

Don't you think?; 12/18/14, 4:38 PM
Zach said...: Unilateral action always feels good, until the other side figures out how to respond. After that, it feels quite a bit less fine.

I've said before that Obama suffers from the "more power!" fallacy. He always thinks that the problem is that last little piece of authority that he doesn't have yet. But he's really blocked because his policies are unpopular, which means that people can block him without repercussions. Even if he gets that last piece of authority, his opponents will find some other way of blocking him, because that's where the political advantage is.

Seriously, are we supposed to believe that Obama has finally hit his peak and gotten things working smoothly in the lame duck session after a huge electoral setback? Once the new Congress gets seated, we'll see how well all this unilateral action holds up.; 12/18/14, 6:52 PM
khesanh0802 said...: Have to agree with Michael at 4:26. It's fine to say your going to do stuff and up to a point you can, but if Congress is doing its job with the budget and appropriations your "stuff" will be seriously constricted.; 12/18/14, 7:48 PM
pm317 said...: Fucking coward!; 12/18/14, 8:00 PM
traditionalguy said...: He was saying that fooling stupid Americans until the next election is not his problem anymore. Now he can destroy the USA every which way but loose.; 12/18/14, 9:17 PM
Scott said...: "I'm the fuckin' President."; 12/18/14, 10:05 PM
damikesc said...: Gee, people worried about how terrible Obama would be when he didn't have an election to face.

Now we know.

And the press adores it.

All hail our new overlords, eh?

Unilateral action always feels good, until the other side figures out how to respond. After that, it feels quite a bit less fine.

Well, given that the Republicans won't do shit (you know, he needs MONEY to actually DO what he is proposing but the GOP will give that to him also), it's a safe bet.

They can easily fuck him over...but won't. Because the Republican Establishment doesn't have a problem with it. Many are happy he's doing it.

That's why the Tea Party needs to conquer the GOP at every level. Local, state, national. Fire every political consultant.; 12/19/14, 12:40 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm starting to look at 2016 Republican candidates from the perspective of who is best equipped by skills and temperament to clean up a major mess.

Not me. I'm going to hope we get someone who will take a chainsaw to the government and show these commie pukes what unfettered executive orders are all about. Someone whose first action on Inauguration Day is to haul Eric Holder off in hand and foot manacles to face justice for his many crimes. Someone who will summarily fire everyone involved in the IRS persecution en masse, revoke their pensions, and flip the bird to any court order that orders them reinstated.; 12/19/14, 8:15 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm starting to look at 2016 Republican candidates from the perspective of who is best equipped by skills and temperament to clean up a major mess.

Not me. I'm going to hope we get someone who will take a chainsaw to the government and show these commie pukes what unfettered executive orders are all about. Someone whose first action on Inauguration Day is to haul Eric Holder off in hand and foot manacles to face justice for his many crimes. Someone who will summarily fire everyone involved in the IRS persecution en masse, revoke their pensions, and flip the bird to any court order that orders them reinstated.; 12/19/14, 8:15 PM