By Rick Manning
President Obama’s “so sue me” statement earlier this week announcing that he is going to continue ignoring Congress and the U.S. Constitution in his on-going pursuit of fundamental transformation of the nation is not surprising from a man who is bereft of the political skills necessary to craft legislation. Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich had those skills and it resulted in balanced budgets and welfare reform. Even the left-maligned George W. Bush demonstrated this skill as he compromised with Teddy Kennedy creating the ill-fated “No Child Left Behind” education law.
But for Obama there won’t be any signature bi-partisan legislative achievements when he mercifully leaves office, and it is wholly his fault.
The obvious place where bi-partisan agreement is begging to be reached is on environmental issues like the Keystone XL pipeline where Democratic Party allied building trade unions are joined with the Chamber of Commerce urging approval. Yet, even on this low-hanging fruit, where all the President has to do is sign a piece of paper and tens of thousands go to work, Obama stubbornly refuses.
Yet, the same Obama that is stepping on the throats of middle class workers has the chutzpah to charge that Republicans in Congress are obstructing him saying, “Rather than protect tax loopholes that let big corporations set up tax shelters overseas, let’s put people to work rebuilding roads and bridges right here in America.”
If Obama was a newly elected President those words might mean something, but he isn’t. His blocking more than 10,000 good construction jobs on the Keystone XL pipeline contradicts him. His 2009 stimulus package that promised “shovel ready” jobs that never materialized as the money went to state public employee members and their unions proves that he just doesn’t care. His current attempt to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank which disproportionately helps the very gigantic corporations which he claims to be fighting against, shows his big lie.
Obama is a president obsessed with his own power, and with an elementary education provided in Indonesia, doesn’t possess an inate understanding of the role of the presidency.
When James Madison wrote the Constitution, he made the Executive Branch weaker than Congress to avoid the temptation of assuming powers of kingship.
Madison was aware of the plight of the Roman Senate as that empire slipped into dictatorship, and he was determined to stop it from happening here.
Madison intentionally created a separation of specifically enumerated federal government powers to force the cooling of passions through a deliberative legislative process.
Yet, it is that process that Obama is desperate to break.
His words encouraging Congress to sue him over his abuse of power, shows a man willing to throw our nation into what can only be termed a Constitutional crisis, because of his wanton disregard for the rule of law.
As we move toward a celebration of our freedom, it is a shame that one of the few people in our great nation who doesn’t appreciate or acknowledge the importance of our Constitutional process for lawmaking to preserving our fundamental freedoms is the President of the United States.
A president who responds to political challenges with a child’s playground refrain, “I’m gonna do what I want, if you don’t like it, sue me.”
No wonder Obama is now viewed as the worse post-World War II president in a just released national poll. He has been revealed to be little more than a petulant child threatening to take his basketball home because a call went against him.
So let’s hope Speaker Boehner takes President Obama at his word and sues him each time he breaches his constitutional lines of authority. It just might be the only thing this desperate and failed president understands.
Rick Manning is the Vice President of Public Policy and Communications for Americans for Limited Government.
