Obama: I Didn't Bother Asking a Lawyer If I Could Unilaterally Suspend the Law;
All I've Done Is Merely Seize Plenary Power on Behalf of the People

If it sounds chilling, it ought to.

This is how democracies die -- or rather, this demarcates the end of democracy.

NYT: People questioned your legal and constitutional authority to do that unilaterally — to delay the employer mandate. Did you consult with your lawyer?

MR. OBAMA: Jackie, if you heard me on stage today, what I said was that I will seize any opportunity I can find to work with Congress to strengthen the middle class, improve their prospects, improve their security –

NYT: No, but specifically –

MR. OBAMA: — but where Congress is unwilling to act, I will take whatever administrative steps that I can in order to do right by the American people.

And if Congress thinks that what I’ve done is inappropriate or wrong in some fashion, they’re free to make that case. But there’s not an action that I take that you don’t have some folks in Congress who say that I’m usurping my authority. Some of those folks think I usurp my authority by having the gall to win the presidency. And I don’t think that’s a secret. But ultimately, I’m not concerned about their opinions — very few of them, by the way, are lawyers, much less constitutional lawyers.

I am concerned about the folks who I spoke to today who are working really hard, are trying to figure out how they can send their kids to college, are trying to make sure that they can save for their retirement. And if I can take steps on their behalf, then I’m going to do so. And I would hope that more and more of Congress will say, you know what, since that’s our primary focus, we’re willing to work with you to advance those ideals. But I’m not just going to sit back if the only message from some of these folks is no on everything, and sit around and twiddle my thumbs for the next 1,200 days.

I am livid that this is not the white-hot core-of-the-sun issue it should be. A lawyer quoted by Allah notes:

Republican opponents of ObamaCare might say that the suspension of the employer mandate is such good policy that there’s no need to worry about constitutionality. But if the president can dispense with laws, and parts of laws, when he disagrees with them, the implications for constitutional government are dire.

It is like this:

It is like the so-called elites are no longer even pretending to be part of a democratic republic anymore.

And let me say this:

The primary problem with the so-called elites is not that they are not humble.

The primary problem with the so-called elites is not that they are not patriotic.

The primary problem with the so-called elites is not that they are not godly. They're not, but that's not the primary problem.

The primary problem with the so-called elites is that they are not elite, and they are neither wise, nor intelligent, nor educated, nor enlightened, nor superior in any fashion save two, accident of circumstance and elevated self-regard.

They do not have any conception of what they're doing, of the history of this country, or of the disasters their stupidity visits upon the ruled every day of the year.

And they will be the death of us all.

posted by Ace at 06:10 PM

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