There are veiled threats, there are thinly veiled threats, and then there is outright extortion. President Obama’s statement to the White House press corps on Tuesday comes close to extortion.
“We are not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we’re providing Americans the kind of help that they need…I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone. And I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions … and I’ve got a phone that allows me to convene Americans from every walk of life,” Obama threatened.
On or near the top of the president’s list of legislation he’s not going to be waiting around for, is the illegal alien amnesty and immigration increase bill he has set as a priority for 2014.
In case John Boehner and the House Republican leadership need help interpreting what the president is saying, let me see if I can help them out. What President Obama said was, Pass the amnesty legislation I want, or I will ignore your constitutional authority and do it without your approval because I don’t think you will do anything to stop me.
We know the president has a pen and he isn’t afraid to use it. He’s repeatedly demonstrated his contempt for congressional authority over immigration policy, and many other policies, over the past five years.
What we don’t know is how Congress – particularly the House Republican leadership – will respond to this latest challenge. So far they have refused to confront executive overreach by the Obama administration.
4 Comments
He should just use the pen all the time. He should fire congress. If I’d sit around bullshitting and doing absolutely nothing in my job, I’d be unemployed. Those lazy House Republicans have to go.
President Obama sees himself as some sort of King and the United States Congress as a rubber stamp for his radical and preposterous “executive orders”. Our system of checks and balances spelled out in the Constitution is crumbling before our eyes.
Article I, section 8 of the US Constitution: “The Congress shall have power…. to establish a uniform rule of naturalization”.
Article II, section 3, concerning the president: “He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed”.
We have a president who claims the power to simply rewrite any law he doesn’t like and “convene” those who agree with him.
Tow the Open Border Line
Or we make life difficult for you.