…it’s important to be specific about how Clinton would use the unilateral powers of the presidency “because of the level of frustration” Democrats have felt when Obama’s priorities have been blocked by Republicans in Congress. Even if Democrats are able to elect one of their own as president in 2016, he or she is all but assured of facing a Congress in which one or two of the chambers are controlled by Republicans.
That’s why Clinton is focusing so much time and energy on laying out both where she would try to work with Congress and how she would go around lawmakers when necessary. And it’s why Democratic insiders and liberal constituencies are so eager to hear about candidates’ plans for using executive power.
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who was one of the Obama officials pushed to find areas where the president could flex his executive muscles, said Clinton has to say how she would use the power of the presidency in order to show that she could actually get things done in office.
“A series of proposals that are aimed at Congress seem a little hollow when you’re talking about the current situation,” she said in an interview. “She kind of outlines a dual track, which I think in today’s climate is certainly something that illustrates it’s more than just a position paper that would sit on someone’s shelf in an office but that it could actually happen.”
Not just defending, but expanding, the Obama legacy
For Democrats, the continuing use of executive power to implement a left-of-center agenda is the logical extension of the legacy Obama’s built.
Obama went around Congress to regulate toxins, shield millions of unauthorized immigrants from deportation, and negotiate a nuclear arms nonproliferation agreement with Iran. Even the major laws passed by a Democratic Congress during his first term were written with an eye toward using the power of the administration to fashion the details with new rules, from Obamacare’s “essential health benefits” standards to Wall Street regulations crafted by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Future Trading Commission.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Left’s Battle Cry?
Show Me the Dictator!
Hitler wrote “Mein Kampf” in jail. Just a thought.
“She’s an evil cunt, but she’s *our* evil cunt.”
When ‘field guidance’ begins to be used, she’s in.
Pendulums swing both ways. The problem with placing too much power in the executive branch is that someday, someone with opposing philosophies will likely occupy that office and you gave him or her the power to do as they please.
My progressive acquaintenances are generally too stupid to realize this. When progressives lament that Obama should be granted more power, I usually counter with “great – wait until you see what I do when I’m President with all that power.” The look of horror on their faces is priceless.
I’m pretty sure that book title translates as
“Hard Choices”.
Probably because progressives can’t think past a sound bite over 10 seconds in length that doesn´t rhyme…
Il Douche.
Finally, somebody got it …
dammit Timmy, I was gonna say that. “I’ts not ‘Il Duce’, it’s ‘Ill Douche’ “