In the News: Obama to Use "Executive Power" to Force Issues the People Don't Want

President Barack Obama, not content to let Americans decide what we want, thumbs his nose at government of the people.

From the New York Times:

With much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities....

“We are reviewing a list of presidential executive orders and directives to get the job done across a front of issues,” said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff.

While use and abuse of executive powers is a trademark of recent presidencies, including Clinton and Bush, this announcement from the White House signals Obama's discontent with the democratic process. It also signals a break with Obama's campaign accusations against George W. Bush for his abuse of executive power. For example, Obama criticized Bush for his "signing statements" to circumvent unfavorable legislation from Congress. (By the way, Obama still reserves the right to signing statement executive authority, despite what he said about Bush.)

Obama intends to use executive powers to push such broad-based programs as creating a budget commission to advance his fiscal agenda, change the "don't ask, don't tell" policy about gays in the military despite the law, and allow the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate heat-trapping gasses despite the failure of the Cap and Trade bill.

Sure, the democratic system can work slowly at times, but is that sufficient reason to hand power to the executive branch to circumvent the process? That sounds like the quick path of tyranny to me. If such abuse of executive authority was bad for Bush, it is equally bad for Obama. And it's bad for the American people.