The Presidents latest foray into the arena of Presidential arrogance is troubling but it should not be surprising. He has probably been the most condescending and power hungry leaders we have had in quite awhile.  He latest is a seemingly unabashed attempt to intimidate the Supreme Court. His statement “The Supreme Court is the final say on our Constitution and our laws and all of us have to respect it. But it’s precisely because of that extraordinary power that the court has traditionally exercised significant restraint and deference to our duly elected legislature, our Congress” he then added “The burden is on those who would overturn a law like this. Now, as I said, I expect the Supreme Court actually to recognize that and to abide by well-established precedents out there,” he added “The burden is on those who would overturn a law like this. Now, as I said, I expect the Supreme Court actually to recognize that and to abide by well-established precedents out there.” Obama’s statement seems to be a shot across the bow of the Supreme court. The last president to try to so unabashedly intimidate the Supreme court was FDR, whose famous Supreme Court packing scheme came close to ending his career.

This not Obama’s first swipe at the Court but this one came with a swift response from a appeals court that demanded the DOJ explain what the President was saying. A whimpering Holder had to convey the message that yes the “courts have the final say.” This is good news as the last thing we need is a tit-for-tat between the President and the Supreme Court that would make the U.S. look like a third world clown circus.

Unfortunately this is type of intimidation and power mad way of thinking is not new to this White House. If anything is is par for the course. His unprecedented uses of presidential power and executive orders have put a new chapter in place on America’s march towards an imperial presidency. 

From his first days in office he made use of all the power given him by the constitution and some the country’s founders would of never dreamed would be yielded by our highest elected official.

It seems like a long time ago but lest we forget it was this president and his party as well as their backers in the main stream media that assailed the power grabs of one President George W. Bush. Helen Thomas wrote about Bush’s imperial presidency in 2002. In fact the charge by the left and the main stream media (MSM) that Bush was an imperial president went right up until 2008 when he left office. Congressman John Conyers even held a hearing on the subject in July of 2008.  Obama even ran against the expansion of power and declared his presidency would be different. Maybe he should of explained more on what he meant by different.

This all makes the cacophony of silence on Obama’s power grabs by Democrats and the MSM all the more remarkable. The MSM is not putting out layers of articles nor are Democrats demanding hearings be held on the subject (nor are republicans so far). It seems the groaning from the media and Democrats was nothing more than imperial hypocrisy. Especially since the President started his power grabs nearly from his first day in office.

Many may of forgotten his hijacking of the census, making it for the first time a political animal under his control instead of a non-partisan function of the commerce dept. This one of the first moves of his presidency, one he did knowing full well the outcome of the 2010 census would directly impact his 2012 presidential run. This outlandish move would unfortunately turn out to be omen of things to come. In fact the President was very busy man during his first year in office.

In June of 2009 Obama fired Gerald Walpin, an inspector with the Office of Inspector General, for trying to investigate his friend Mayor Kevin Johnson for misappropriation of AmeriCorps grant funds by Johnson’s non-profit. A charge that would prove to be true. Again an unprecedented act by an unprecedented president.

There is of course all the presidents men, the huge number of czars installed by him and answerable only to him. Men who yielded huge amounts of power for often ill-defined purposes. By October of his first year Obama had put into place 30 of these czars. The list of these men (and 1 woman) is a virtual who’s who among the radical left. Communist’s, socialists, advocates for tree rights, post partum abortion, sexualization of children etc. Czars of course are not new but the shear numbers are as is the total lack of qualifications for many of them not to mention the foggy directives given these unelected radical Dukes and Duchess of Washington.

One could imagine what would of happened if George Bush had tried such escapades. The screams of the left and the media would of been unimaginable. The silence of these groups in the face of such escapades is telling as much as any commentary here or elsewhere could be. Especially in light of the fact President Barack Obama has not rolled back any of President Bush’s policies, not even the infamous Patriot Act, to the contrary he has expanded them.

Of course there is more, much more. No one can forget the GM affair and the auto company bailouts in general. When the auto companies came begging for their share of Obama’s taxpayer funded handouts it was like flies coming to a spider for mercy. When comparing the benefits to the cost of selling their souls to the USG (United States Government) only Ford quietly and wisely bowed out. The billions laid out to “save” Chrysler and GM was sold first as a way to prevent a potentially devastating declaration of bankruptcy. Obama than turned around and forced both companies to do exactly that. Not only this, he than declared only the unsecured debts held by the UAW mattered, secured debtors were against all precedent and the Rule of Law put on the bottom of the heap. This outrage was followed by forcing the GM CEO who organized the deal with the devil to resign. What did the taxpayers get for Obama’s outrages? Chrysler was sold to Fiat, something that was bound to happen even without the USG’s involvement. GM was reorganized into a new company with the UAW and Uncle Sam as share holders. The final tally for the Presidents folly is still ongoing but at last count it amounted to about 30 billion dollars. In other words the American people financed the biggest political payoff in U.S. history.

Of course there is also Obamacare. The greatest expansion of government in history. A piece of legislation that was rammed through with little debate and lots of fanfare. Public outcries of foul were ignored. A piece of legislation that has its own post and tons of articles already written about it.

The previous examples the mere presidential highlights of his first year. The same year the President went on his famous apology tour, bowed at the hip to the Saudi King, and betrayed Poland and the Czech Republic to appease the Russians. His international groveling that year was only exceeded by his domestic power grabbing.

It has been self-evident over time that this leader has grown from a initially awkward and inexperienced president into a clever and manipulative power broker. Mentored by the best and being a quick study he has matured and so has his methods for getting his way. In fact as material started to be gathered for this article the sheer volume made it evident that this was a subject more appropriate for a book that a posting. Like Obamacare this president’s imperial tendencies are broad, deep and far reaching. To an extent we have never seen before the use of presidential decree (AKA the executive order) is being used to get around the inconvenience of congressional approval. Laws and precedent are being ignored and presidential power yielded in ever more sophisticated ways. In fact if the President has a philosophy when it comes to power it must be the mantra confiscate, obfuscate, and concentrate for that is what he has done.

“That government is best which governs least” (a quote often attributed alternately to Thomas Paine or Thomas Jefferson but comes from Henry Thoreau who was paraphrasing the motto of an old magazine)

The Conservative Mind

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