No Point Complaining About Obama if We Don't Elect a Republican Congress
There is no point complaining about Obama and his Administration unless we are going to elect a Republican Congress this year.
It's obvious by now that not only does Obama not take the hint that he is overstepping his Constitutional authority, but that he actually revels in doing so, because he sees the Constitutional limits on his office as a handicap, something to be overcome. He is actively trying to set a precedent that the Executive Authority is unbound by the limits the Founders set upon the office.
Why he's doing this is not entirely clear. I think what is going on is that he -- unlike any other person ever elected to the Presidency of the United States of America -- grew up actually idolizing the Third World despots who most sane American find either disgusting or laughable. He's trying to govern America as if he were such a despot, and as long as we let him get away with it, he's succeeding.
Most Presidents, even fairly power-hungry ones, have been restrained by the knowledge that if they pushed too far they could be impeached and convicted and wind up doing time in Federal prison for their actions. The actual sequence of impeachment and conviction wasn't necessary to restrain them -- they understood the system well enough to grasp that this could really happen to them, and so they backed off in the ultimate confrontations with the Congress and the Courts.
Obama isn't backing down. The leaders he grew up idolizing, when they faced similar confrontations, dealt with their Congress and Courts by ignoring them, and if necessary sending in mobs or even troops to intimidate them into silence. That won't work here, but Obama doesn't know it, and by the time things get that far, we'll be in truly deep trouble as a Republic.
Plus, Obama simply doesn't think things that far through. All he knows is that he wants his own way and he's going to get it. He has the mindset of a cranky child, but he's a cranky child with considerable power at his disposal, which makes him dangerous.
The Democrats are never going to turn on Obama. They are so happy with themselves for electing a Genuine Black Man (well, half-black, one-quarter Arab and one-quarter African Black, but then Math Class Was Hard for them) to the White House that they regard it as anathema to seek any more information about Obama than his skin tone. They notice that his illegalities are helping them win elections, but they are almost as bad as Obama at thinking things through and they are not considering the implications of the power Congress will lose if the President can make laws by fiat. Anyway, the current crop of Congresscritters will have status, heck the Senate still had status in Rome centuries after it lost all real power, so why should they care?
The Republicans may or may not turn on Obama. A lot depends on them having a majority and the size of their majority. Generally speaking, Congressional Republicans in the minority will not take the political risks needed to bring down the Obama Administration -- those with a slight majority may take some risks, and if they can get a two-thirds majority they will almost definitely bring him down.
The more Republicans who get voted into office in 2014 -- even freakin RINO's -- the greater the chance that something effective will be done to lame Obama's Administration, and -- who knows? -- maybe even put some of the worst bastards like Eric Holder in Federal Prison where he so richly deserves to spend some time. This last proviso is important, because we need a firm deterrent against this happening again, or the Republic is toast. And not just half a century or more in the future, where I safely put it in my Mandate fiction. Within a decade or two.
It's that bad. We either have to start reversing the damage Obama's doing, or in 25 or so years, we'll be living in a Republic In Name Only.
It's obvious by now that not only does Obama not take the hint that he is overstepping his Constitutional authority, but that he actually revels in doing so, because he sees the Constitutional limits on his office as a handicap, something to be overcome. He is actively trying to set a precedent that the Executive Authority is unbound by the limits the Founders set upon the office.
Why he's doing this is not entirely clear. I think what is going on is that he -- unlike any other person ever elected to the Presidency of the United States of America -- grew up actually idolizing the Third World despots who most sane American find either disgusting or laughable. He's trying to govern America as if he were such a despot, and as long as we let him get away with it, he's succeeding.
Most Presidents, even fairly power-hungry ones, have been restrained by the knowledge that if they pushed too far they could be impeached and convicted and wind up doing time in Federal prison for their actions. The actual sequence of impeachment and conviction wasn't necessary to restrain them -- they understood the system well enough to grasp that this could really happen to them, and so they backed off in the ultimate confrontations with the Congress and the Courts.
Obama isn't backing down. The leaders he grew up idolizing, when they faced similar confrontations, dealt with their Congress and Courts by ignoring them, and if necessary sending in mobs or even troops to intimidate them into silence. That won't work here, but Obama doesn't know it, and by the time things get that far, we'll be in truly deep trouble as a Republic.
Plus, Obama simply doesn't think things that far through. All he knows is that he wants his own way and he's going to get it. He has the mindset of a cranky child, but he's a cranky child with considerable power at his disposal, which makes him dangerous.
The Democrats are never going to turn on Obama. They are so happy with themselves for electing a Genuine Black Man (well, half-black, one-quarter Arab and one-quarter African Black, but then Math Class Was Hard for them) to the White House that they regard it as anathema to seek any more information about Obama than his skin tone. They notice that his illegalities are helping them win elections, but they are almost as bad as Obama at thinking things through and they are not considering the implications of the power Congress will lose if the President can make laws by fiat. Anyway, the current crop of Congresscritters will have status, heck the Senate still had status in Rome centuries after it lost all real power, so why should they care?
The Republicans may or may not turn on Obama. A lot depends on them having a majority and the size of their majority. Generally speaking, Congressional Republicans in the minority will not take the political risks needed to bring down the Obama Administration -- those with a slight majority may take some risks, and if they can get a two-thirds majority they will almost definitely bring him down.
The more Republicans who get voted into office in 2014 -- even freakin RINO's -- the greater the chance that something effective will be done to lame Obama's Administration, and -- who knows? -- maybe even put some of the worst bastards like Eric Holder in Federal Prison where he so richly deserves to spend some time. This last proviso is important, because we need a firm deterrent against this happening again, or the Republic is toast. And not just half a century or more in the future, where I safely put it in my Mandate fiction. Within a decade or two.
It's that bad. We either have to start reversing the damage Obama's doing, or in 25 or so years, we'll be living in a Republic In Name Only.