Imperial Presidency

In a surprising headline, the Christian Science Monitor asks, Is Barack Obama an imperial president?

Obama, a former constitutional law professor, was once skeptical of the aggressive use of presidential power. During the 2008 campaign, he accused President George W. Bush of regularly circumventing Congress. Yet as president, Obama has grown increasingly bold in his own use of executive action, at times to controversial effect.

The president (or his administration) has unilaterally changed elements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); declared an anti-gay-rights law unconstitutional; lifted the threat of deportation for an entire class of undocumented immigrants; bypassed Senate confirmation of controversial nominees; waived compliance requirements in education law; and altered the work requirements under welfare reform. This month, the Obama administration took the highly unusual step of announcing that it will recognize gay marriages performed in Utah – even though Utah itself says it will not recognize them while the issue is pending in court.

Early in his presidency, Obama also expanded presidential warmaking powers, surveillance of the American public, and extrajudicial drone strikes on alleged terrorists outside the United States, including Americans – going beyond Mr. Bush's own global war on terror following 9/11.

Jonathan Turley, a constitutional scholar at George Washington University in Washington, D.C, and an Obama voter, told CSM staff writer Linda Feldman:

"It's really the character of the actions, and their subject. In my view, Obama has surpassed George W. Bush in the level of circumvention of Congress and the assertion of excessive presidential power. I don't think it's a close question." [snip]

"President Obama meets every definition of an imperial presidency. He is the president that Richard Nixon always wanted to be."

Feldman lists several examples of the Obama Administration's "controversial power plays" using the regulatory changes. And she gives insight into why Washington is buzzing with the news that John Podesta, former chief of staff to Bill Clinton, has recently been brought on board Team Obama from the Center for American Progress:

Most important, his passion is climate change, and he's a big believer in executive action – by the president himself, as well as via agency rules and regulations. [snip]

"John is a guy who knows how to get things done," says Elgie Holstein of the Environmental Defense Fund and a former colleague of Podesta's in the Clinton White House.

The article is well worth reading in its entirety.