Rush Limbaugh has said many times that President Barack Hussein Obama views the US Constitution as an impediment, as an obstacle to be circumvented, to be worked around. Limbaugh said, “…The Constitution is Obama’s obstacle.” The latest Obama “accommodation” drove home the point that Obama really does see the US Constitution as an obstacle to tyrannical rule that he, and many liberals, want to impose.
For some insight into his current thinking, Obama, while in the Illinois senate, in a 2001 interview, said that the Chief Justice Earl Warren court failed to “break free from the essential constraints” in the US Constitution and launch a major redistribution of wealth. “It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution… that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf.”
That thinking is exemplified by his “We can’t wait” campaign to circumvent the US Constitution, to bypass Congress, and do whatever he pleases to extend “positive” rights when he thinks they are required. If Congress and the US Constitution gets in his way or don’t give him his way, he ignores them. He says “We can’t wait” and does what he wants.
Article II, section 1, of the US Constitution clearly states about the president: “Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That is the oath that Obama voluntarily took. Further, Article I, section 1, states “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” So when he says “We can’t wait,” is he hiding behind the phrase “to the best of my Ability?” Does his ability include in what he believes? And how does he get around the phrase “faithfully execute the Office?” Does he think that he is faithfully executing his duties when he invokes his “We can’t wait” stratagem?
Here are some examples of his “We can’t wait” strategy and executive fiat:
- In October, 2011, Obama, seeking to circumvent congressional opposition and to jump-start the economy, pushed a series of “executive branch steps,” beginning with “new rules” to make it easier for homeowners with little or no equity to refinance their federally funded mortgages, through Fannie May and Freddie Mac, which posted larger losses than expected, sought $6 billion in additional aid.
- In July, 2011, Obama told the National Council of La Raza that the idea of “doing things” on his own was “very tempting” when it came to bypassing Congress on immigration.
- In September, 2011 Obama told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus he’d like to work his way “around Congress.”
- In July, 2011, during the debt limit debate, Obama asked lawyers if there was a way to interpret the 14th Amendment so as to get around Congress and establish a “long-term extension of the federal borrowing limit” on his own.
- Before Obama was president he said he wanted to bankrupt the coal industry by imposing a cap and trade system that would be so harsh that “electricity costs would necessarily skyrocket.” Unable to get that bill through Congress, Obama bypassed them and used Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations to accomplish his goals. According to an analysis released in October, 2011, by the Institute for Energy Research, the EPA is “leading the Obama administration’s assault on coal with a number of new regulations.”
- Blatant subversion: Lybia war – In Article I, section 8 (Powers of Congress) of the US Constitution, there is the phrase “To declare War…” But Obama said the US actions in Lybia didn’t amount to war, so he didn’t need the approval of Congress. And he ignored the War Powers Act.
His latest decree, announced by Kathleen Sebilius, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), said that many church-affiliated institutions will have to cover free birth control for employees, even if that decree violated moral and ethical beliefs. Robbie George, law professor at Princeton, said, “They pursue this agenda with a religious zeal because, in fact, the ideology in which abortion is a “right” and “sexual freedom” is a core value is their religion.” That decree caused such an uproar that Obama had to “accommodate” it. The point here, however, is that once again Obama is trying to circumvent the US Constitution. Amendment 1 clearly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;….” So again we see Obama, using HHS, trying to bypass Congress and the US Constitution. At least this time he didn’t try to hide behind “We can’t wait.” Was that the reason for his problems and eventual “accommodation?”
So anytime the US Constitution and Congress doesn’t let him have free reign, he simply says “We can’t wait.” The US Constitution and Congress are, indeed, an obstacle to him – and to his agenda.
But that’s just my opinion.