"I Will Bypass Congress"

I’ve seen at least a dozen Obama supporters defend his statement by citing the number of executive orders issued by presidents who preceded him, providing links to a list published by a group at the University of California at Santa Barbara. I have no doubt the list is accurate, but the argument is spurious because an executive order declaring, for instance, that there will be an Easter egg roll on the White House lawn is a vastly different thing than one ordering the summary execution of an American citizen or one rescinding a significant provision of a bill passed by Congress. How many former presidents have issued such orders?

In any case, the mere statement “I will bypass Congress” is an affront to the constitution which he is sworn to uphold. It is an insult to those who voted for him based on his campaign rhetoric which promised that, “I have taught the constitution. I understand the constitution. I will restore the constitution.” Far from restoring the constitution, he has done more than any president before him to render the constitution meaningless.

When George W. Bush issued executive orders regarding EPA emissions standards those who are supporting Obama today were up in arms about “executive overreach.” Now they are defending Obama’s prerogative to “bypass Congress.” As a commenter elsewhere so elegantly put it, “Loyalty and obedience to the party, any party, is a pox on this country.”