Remember "Pass this bill"...?
(or this jewel)
Well, that mantra has now become, "We can't wait," and in doing so, Obama abandons the old slogan, along with the proper congressional process, in exchange for rule by executive fiat to shove his programs down the throats of the American People.
(you'll hear it repeated over & over again...if you haven't already)
WSJ reports:
President Barack Obama rolled it out Monday as he introduced a new housing policy meant to aid homeowners who owe more on their loans than their homes are worth. The policy, which replaces a flawed housing plan Mr. Obama put forth in early 2009, will make it easier for people to refinance their loans at lower interest rates.
Even that plan is expected to have only a modest impact on the housing crisis, and several administration officials said they knew it wasn’t a “magic bullet” that will solve the problem.
It does have one particular virtue: it doesn’t need congressional approval. After weeks of imploring Congress to pass his jobs bill, including a little-discussed plank that would aid the housing market, Mr. Obama said he is shifting strategies.
I also think Peter Brockmeyer sums up the magnitude of this dare I say dictatorial action quite well:
President Barack Obama has figured out the best way to get past the stymied impasse created by the legislative branch: ignore them.
With his $447 billion jobs package floundering in Congress and the votes he is hoping to secure (read: buy) with it still not in place, the president has decided that the best course of action is to use various tools available to the executive branch to force programs on the American people.
I agree that the process is cumbersome. The bureaucracy created by the federal government is maddening. The fact that the TARP package of 2008 went from 3 pages to 169 is just one instance of the insanity that is Capitol Hill. I, however, do believe that there is a system of checks and balances in place for a reason. The framers of the Constitution were clear about that.
This is not the first time when a United States president tried to circumvent the process. President Franklin Roosevelt made a sport of it in the 1930s. He tried to just add justices to the Supreme Court to shift the majority in his favor. But just because it has been done in the past, whether successfully or not and no matter how justified it may seem, circumventing the process is not a proper course of action.
Picking up from this dictatorial notion and its questionable constitutionality, Levin had a few words to add and expand on...
Now of course, if you've followed this president throughout his limited time in office, you're very well aware of his gumption to administer his policies through the executive branch. However, he has managed to do most of this with the approval of the legislature. It's very telling that when Obama can no longer get his agenda approved through Congress, that he has no problem whatsoever in skirting Congress, as well as the proper constitutional processes.
And as Obama rolled out his new mantra in Las Vegas, it seems only fitting that this Nevada ad so properly illustrates how his policies, whether rightly attained with congressional approval or not, have made matters worse...
ADDENDUM: He can't wait? No, we can't wait...
