Thread: Obama’s Reelection Strategy: Bypass Congress

Obama’s Reelection Strategy: Bypass Congress

He intends to do whatever he can via executive branch agencies.
by
Phil Kerpen

January 5, 2012 - 12:00 am
In a recent interview, President Obama reiterated his intention to bypass Congress to pursue his extreme policy agenda. That’s not in itself news; it’s been going on in every area of federal policy (as I discuss in detail in Democracy Denied) and the president has been boasting about it for months in his country-wide “we can’t wait” campaign. The notable thing this time around is that Obama offered his plan to bypass our elected representatives in Congress as an explicit re-election strategy.

The interviewer, Rob Quirk of KOAA-TV, asked Obama what it would take to win reelection. Obama’s reponse: “Well, what we’re going to have to do is continue to make progress on the economy over the next several months. And where Congress is not willing to act, we’re going to go ahead and do it ourselves.”

In other words, the Obama election strategy for election 2012 is to act as if election 2010 never happened, disregard the Republicans in Congress, and put the full force of the federal executive apparatus to work towards his reelection.

For months Obama has been out on the stump campaigning on the taxpayer dime, a trend that is almost certain to accelerate. He hits the ground running in 2012 with a statewide tele-townhall in Iowa and a major campaign-style event in Ohio. Ironically, these events are presented as pushing a legislative agenda in Congress, the very same Congress the president has already declared irrelevant. Their real purpose is entirely political.

Obama is also abusing the appointments process to install ideologically radical nominees to advance his bypass-Congress reelection strategy. Although Congress has remained in pro forma session to prevent recess appointments since the 2010 election, Obama recently announced that he would dispense with over a hundred years of precedent and declare Congress to be in recess; that’s right, the president now believes he can rewrite Senate rules. On January 4, Obama unilaterally rewrote Senate rules and installed Richard Cordray as the head of the vast new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The bureau can now begin regulating every aspect of our financial lives without any congressional oversight (unless courts invalidate the “recess appointment.”)

Obama may also use his newly created power to “recess appoint” when Congress is not in recess to install radical union lawyers in a court-packing scheme at the National Labor Relations Board, allowing it to continue rewarding the unions with a bureaucratic rewrite of the nation’s labor laws. Shortly before the end of last year the Board – before the term expired for Obama’s previous recess appointee, union lawyer Craig Becker – voted to allow unions to ambush employers with organizing elections with as little as seven days notice.

Obama may make dozens of other controversial appointments in this manner, making a mockery of the Constitution’s advice and consent requirement to fill the federal courts and agencies with radicals who could never withstand Senate scrutiny, even with his own party controlling the Senate.

Regardless of how many more radicals Obama can slip into key positions, Obama knows that to win reelection he needs to recapture the sense of historical excitement that surrounded the 2008 campaign. So he will put the full weight of the federal executive branch into advancing the key policy objectives of the constituencies that will provide him boots on the ground: unions, environmentalists, social justice street organizers, identity politics groups, and class warriors.

Key rewards and inducements for the environmental groups include a head-spinning array of expensive regulations from EPA, an all-out government-wide assault on hydraulic fracturing, and continued slowdowns in permitting and leasing from the EPA and the Interior Department. Also worth watching is a proposed Endangered Species Act listing of the so-called Dunes Sagebrush Lizard, which until recently was just an ordinary lizard, but may now become a “unique subspecies” whose listing would devastate oil production in West Texas.

Obama’s executive decisions will continue to display his choice of a rigid far-left ideology over practical considerations. He will again block the Keystone XL pipeline, a decision he is required to re-issue within 60 days under the terms of the payroll tax holiday extension bill that passed before the end of the year. That privileges a radical anti-development ideology above job creation, in the hopes of inspiring the green groups and the campus protest crowd to come out and volunteer again for Obama with some of the passion they brought in 2008. The Energy Department will continue funding green jobs boondoggles like Solyndra.

Similarly, the administration successfully torpedoed the AT&T merger with T-Mobile, which had major concessions to the unions with respect to job creation that earned their support and promised to unleash tens of billions of dollars in private investment. That was a sop to the extreme left so-called media reform movement, which was also rewarded with the FCC’s so-called net neutrality order to begin – unlawfully, courts will likely find – to regulate broadband Internet access. The FCC is now considering a proposal that amounts to the DISCLOSE Act via backdoor means, requiring all political ad buys to disclose their donors to stations who would in turn make the information public.

The Justice Department will continue attempts to demonize and hamper state-level voter ID requirements to inspire and facilitate the ACORN-successor entities that are carrying the Obama campaign’s voter registration and turnout efforts.

ObamaCare implementation will move forward in the same arbitrary and politicized fashion that abuses regulations and guidance documents from the IRS and HHS to punish political enemies with expensive interpretations that have no statutory basis and reward political allies with waivers.
And the costs associated with all the expensive, politically-motivated executive action will be used as a pretext to attack affected companies for raising prices, further stoking the president’s class warfare campaign theme that inspires the fringe elements of the Occupy Wall Street movement to fold their efforts into the campaign.

In brief, the entire multi-trillion dollar bureaucratic apparatus of the federal government will be directed towards Obama’s reelection. Unfortunately, these executive actions will have serious negative economic consequences in terms of compliance costs and the broad uncertainty and anxiety that comes from not knowing what arbitrary decisions will come next. That’s terrible news for our economic recovery, and it may also mean that the Obama strategy will backfire politically with an electorate that’s desperate for job creation and economic growth.

Mr. Kerpen is vice president for policy at Americans for Prosperity. He can be reached through Twitter, Facebook, or http://www.PhilKerpen.com.
http://pjmedia.com/blog/obamas-reele...inglepage=true

Barack Obama: Dictator-in-Chief

President Obama said the following in making his so-called recess appointments and bypassing Congress, “When Congress refuses to act — and as a result, hurts our economy and puts our people at risk — then I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them.” These are the words of a dictator. Dictators always promise that what they’re doing is for the people. Have you ever heard a dictator saying that what he was doing was going to destroy the nation, hurt the people, and lead the nation to ruin? I don’t think so. But the history books are filled with stories of dictators doing these very things.

Isabel Paterson writes in her book The God of the Machine, “Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends.”[1] Thomas Sowell described this motivation as the “Vision of the Anointed”:

Although Adam Smith regarded the intentions of businessmen as selfish and anti-social, he saw the systematic consequences of their competition as being far more beneficial to society than well-intentioned government regulation. . . . The vision of the anointed is one in which ills as poverty, irresponsible sex, and crime derive primarily from “society,” rather than from individual choices and behavior. To believe in personal responsibility would be to destroy the whole special role of the anointed, whose vision casts them in the role of rescuers of people treated unfairly by “society.”[2]

Power is most dangerous in the hands of people who believe what they are doing is for our well being because they contend that their intentions to help the less fortunate are righteous and just. It’s their intention to do good things that counts. The results are less important even if those receiving the government benefits are actually hurt by the programs. In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the power of the ring is not something to be desired even by good people. It’s no wonder that Gandalf and the elves shun the power of the ring. Tolkien is doubtful that any person has the ability to resist the temptation of absolute power promised by the ring, even if that power is used for good. Attempts to stop slavery, an exceedingly righteous and needed endeavor, had been done in ways that made the cause seem fanatical.

These perceived do-gooders are the philosophical descendants of Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794), France’s Voice of Virtue, who thought the guillotine would contribute to the nation’s salvation. “The humanitarian puts himself in the place of God. . . . Of course what the humanitarian actually proposes is that he shall do what he thinks is good for everybody. It is at this point that the humanitarian sets up the guillotine.”[3] America never saw a guillotine. Blood did not run in the streets. There were no attempts to compel equality of outcome. The Constitution was not designed to save everyone or anyone. How times have changed. Here’s how Thomas J. DiLorenzo puts it:

According to the doctrine of “collective salvation,” a Christian cannot be saved and go to Heaven unless one first embarks on a crusade to have government “save” the “oppressed” of society by expanding the welfare state, raising taxes, making taxation more “progressive,” adopting more racial hiring quotas, and regulating and nationalizing as much of private industry as possible. It is a variant of “liberation theology” which, according to Pope John Paul, II, is essentially Marxism masquerading as Christianity.

There is no need for a guillotine when you have the punitive taxing power of the State, regulatory agencies who answer to no one, and a willing voting public to game the system for personal benefit at the expense of others.

The written Constitution “checks” the powers of the federal government by carefully delineating and specifying the powers of each branch. If the Constitution does not grant the federal government power to perform a particular activity, the government cannot legally perform it: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” (Tenth Amendment).

This becomes an extremely important point when any discussion of taxation arises. The federal government’s authority to tax is only as great as its stated function. If the Constitution does not specify a particular function for the federal government to perform then the United States Congress has no Constitutional right to collect taxes from citizens for the proposed unconstitutional activity even if the policy is designed to save us.

The State has failed to heed the Bible’s warning and Benjamin Franklin’s warning to the Constitutional convention: “Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Ps. 127:1). Civil government cannot save no matter how much it taxes the citizens in an attempt to fulfill its political dream of heaven on earth.

God warned the people in Samuel’s day that their rejection of Him as their true King would mean the — confiscation of their property by an oppressive state: “And [the king] will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. And he will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give to his officers and to his servants … He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants” (1 Sam. 8:14–17).

The day is long past when we can say that the Federal Government of the United States has taken a tenth of what we own. The percentage is much greater. What will the judgment be?

Notes:

Isabel Paterson, “The Humanitarian with the Guillotine” in The God of the Machine (1943), 235. [↩]
Thomas Sowell, The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulations as the Basis for Social Policy (New York: Basic Books, 2005), 126, 203. [↩]
Paterson, The God of the Machine, 241. [↩]


Read more: Barack Obama: Dictator-in-Chief | Godfather Politics http://godfatherpolitics.com/3008/ba...#ixzz1ihlNi9Bu



Read more: Barack Obama: Dictator-in-Chief | Godfather Politics http://godfatherpolitics.com/3008/ba...#ixzz1ihkXEMHW

Obama Says It’s About What Kind of Country We Leave to Our Children

In response to the Republican Iowa Caucus that just took place, President Obama spoke to some of his supporters and told them:

“Part of what 2012 is about is both reminding the American people of how far we’ve traveled and the concrete effects that some of our work … but part of it is also framing this larger debate about what kind of country are we going to leave for our children and our grandchildren.”

Mr. President, I have been looking at how far we’ve traveled in the three years you’ve been illegally occupying the Oval Office. The direction you’ve taken this country to is one of ruination and destruction. I can’t help but see your socialistic policies as being purposefully designed to bring this country to the brink of complete financial disaster and collapse.

And there can only be two reasons you would intentionally destroy America and its greatness.

One possible reason is that you intend to drive the nation to such a state of despair and desperation that it would allow you to take the drastic measures of instituting martial law and assuming dictatorial control. With all of the gays you have allowed into the military, I’m sure you would have their complete support.

The second possible reason is that you truly are a Kenyan Muslim and like many Muslims worldwide, you want to bring the infidel nation of American crashing down upon itself. If you succeeded, you would be hailed as one of the greatest Muslims in all of history. The way you have so openly courted and wooed Muslims worldwide while at the same time snubbing your nose at Christians and Jews, only adds credence to this possibility.

Or perhaps the plan is both of these scenarios combined?

So what kind of a country are you planning on leaving to our children and grandchildren? To be honest, I wouldn’t want my children or grandchildren to live in the nation you are striving towards. I don’t want them to see America become a dictatorial or Muslim nation, either of which would persecute Christians.

With the direction you are sending this nation, I believe that my children and grandchildren will have a life similar to the Hebrews in captivity in Egypt under pharaohs’ rule. They’ll become slaves to the tyranny of your Marxist and/or Muslim government. They will feel the sting of whips on their backs as they’re made to toil in the most degrading of jobs so that your elite society won’t have to dirty themselves doing.

Mr. President, I’m sixty years old and welcome the day I go to meet my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you get re-elected, I am certain that day will be sooner than expected. However, my children and grandchildren shouldn’t have to face the same possibility so soon in their lives. But the society you are driving towards may require them to face that possibility as they make a stand for their faith in Christ.

I can only pray that God will have some mercy on the faithful still in the land and spare us four more years of your tyranny and destruction. I will also pray for your soul and that God will open your eyes and ears to see and hear just what you’re doing to our once Christian nation.

Read more: Obama Says It’s About What Kind of Country We Leave to Our Children | Godfather Politics http://godfatherpolitics.com/2982/ob...#ixzz1ihodFpDw



Read more: Obama Says It’s About What Kind of Country We Leave to Our Children | Godfather Politics http://godfatherpolitics.com/2982/ob...#ixzz1ihoXXewE


{b] I would say one thing he is right, it is about our children, grandchildren, all the ones that come after us[/b]

Believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting.
-President Barack Obama



Glenn Beck assembles a video montage that includes President Obama making reference (on numerous occasions) to bypassing Congress in order to push forward with his agenda. Rather than outrage over the President’s desire to ignore his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, the masses cheer.

Beck on GBTV:

This is the way a republic ends.

…

…The problem is not Obama. The problem is the American people. Because, if they fall for it this time they’ll fall for somebody worse next time. It’s the American people.

How many times did he say ‘You know there are people that want me to bypass [Congress]‘ ?

He’s setting the road. He’s plowing the field. That’s all he’s doing. And the people are cheering him to violate the Constitution.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=HB_0T34MvQg

This article has been contributed by SHTF Plan. Visit www.SHTFplan.com for alternative news, commentary and preparedness info.

Obama Plans to Forgive Mortgages?

From today’s Rush Limbaugh show:

I have been waiting to see if this gets reported. It has not been reported. It’s not gone beyond where I first saw it. Well, I take it back. It has appeared in one other place. Our old buddy James Pethokoukis, who writes at Reuters and some other places, has discovered that one of the objectives Obama has with all these recess appointments is to — brace yourself here — essentially, when you strip it all away, if this happens, what Obama is planning on doing is essentially forgiving all mortgages.

There are some requirements. You have to be paying on your mortgage, you have to be three months current, but Obama is going to just wave a magic wand and allow people to refinance their mortgages, essentially cutting hundreds of dollars off of the monthly payment. This will cost $1.2 trillion and, as always, it is those of you who don’t have a mortgage or who will not qualify for this plan who will be paying for it. This is buying an election in one fell swoop. (interruption) What? What quote from yesterday? Oh. Well, everybody’s saying, even Rove is out there saying it’s not a smart move to spend 20 minutes on stage with McCain if you are Romney having McCain endorse you. It’s really not a smart move. That 20 minutes on Hannity last night. I don’t know who they think are, I just don’t know. I don’t know how they think they’re helping themselves. But don’t get sidetracked here.

Folks, it may not matter who the nominee is. It may not matter about the primaries. It may not matter about any polling data. We have a president who’s cutting the defense budget now. His priorities are winning the future, paying off his wacko donors and weakening national security in the process, proudly saying that it’s about time we pared down to the point where we can only fight one ground war at a time. The idea that we should be able to fight two ground wars at a time is excessive and unnecessary, so we’re cutting the defense budget. All of this is predictable, by the way. There is a plan afoot by virtue of these recess appointments, it’s a little bit more complicated, but the bottom line is, in terms of perception, the perception is going to be on the part of people that Obama is forgiving their mortgages.

The perception and the way it’s gonna be reported — this is not really what’s gonna happen — but the way it’s gonna be reported and the way people are gonna be made to feel is that Obama is fixing their mortgage. He’s fixing the fact that their house is underwater. He is going to lower their monthly payment, the banks, the rich guys are gonna take the hit on it, millionaires and so forth. Your house is going to have value again. In one fell swoop with an executive order, we’re gonna fix the housing problem. We’re gonna bring value back to everybody’s number one asset. Now, if that happens, and if it’s reported that way, then all the rest of this is irrelevant. You go out and basically, as president, make it possible for people’s mortgages to be paid much cheaper, the value of their home restored just with a wave of your magic wand, who’s going to vote against that, who is going to vote against the guy that makes that happen? That’s the plan.

Now, it’s not guaranteed that it’s going to happen. If it does, the monthly mortgage payment of people affected would fall by an average of $355 a month for Obama’s constituents. That is not insignificant. For a lot of people, that’s close to the payment we’re talking about here. For a lot of people it’s half the payment. It’s not insignificant. You reduce people’s monthly payment by 400 bucks, just by waving the magic wand, and there’s one guy who did it. Obama. I want to take you back to some of the early town halls after the guy was elected over in Tampa, there’s this woman saying, “Where’s my new kitchen? Where’s my new car?” Well, here it comes. Election year 2012. But instead of a new kitchen and a new car, hey, guess what? Here’s your mortgage, refinanced, totally affordable as it should have been in the first place. The banks were ripping you off. The banks were overcharging you, but I am making your mortgage affordable and the value of your home is now worth something.

And who’s gonna stop it? Who? Nobody! (interruption) Of course, they’re gonna have to. What do you mean, “The banks are gonna grab the ankles on this”? The banks have been grabbing the ankles ever since the Community Redevelopment Act! The military is grabbing the ankles on cutting themselves. McCain’s grabbing the ankles. (impression) “We don’t call anybody ‘liars’ in politics! It’s not how we do it, unless you have incontrovertible proof,” and we don’t really want to say the country’s “screwed.” That’s just not presidential. So while we’re sitting here worried about semantics and “sounding presidential,” we’ve got a guy who is living and behaving outside the Constitution! We have a lawless regime, here.

It’s the same thing with the jobless numbers. I warned you. I warned you back in December, “Get ready,” and, lo and behold, all it’s taken is one month for it to come true. The new jobless numbers are out and, “Look! Ho, gee! Are we in Fat City? Why, everybody is going back to work. The economy, it’s rebounded!” So it’s a lot to deal with here, and I’ll put all this in a semblance of order and give you the details of this. The mortgage thing is not guaranteed to happen. I don’t want to say it’s a fait accompli. I just want to tell you it’s what’s planned. This would be the mother of all stimulus bills. They’re calling this the Home Assistance Refinancing Program 2.0.

The Home Assistance Refinancing Program, HARP (HARP 1.0) failed! It didn’t work. They’re going back and they’re gonna do it again. They’re calling it HARP 2.0. So we have a president who has gone rogue. Even yesterday in Ohio to set this up, Obama at his town hall meeting repeated his lie that the banks tricked people into getting bad mortgages. The banks tricked people, lured them in, and that’s not at all what happened. The government is responsible for the subprime mortgage crisis as you well know because you’re a devoted and regular listener to the program. But this is all set up yesterday with Obama in Ohio.

http://patriotupdate.com/16799/does-...rtgage-bailout