Yesterday President Obama decided to do away with that pesky
little “Constitution” thing, and assign himself the power to
make recess appointments when the Senate is not in recess.
The Constitution could not be clearer about this: “The
President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions
which shall expire at the end of their next session.” The
meaning of this power is equally clear, providing a mechanism
for the president to expediently fill important offices left
vacant by sudden illness or resignation. The president is most
certainly
not granted the power to
unilaterally decide whether the Senate is in recess or not.
This was all done for the purpose of installing Richard Cordray
as director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,
which is not what the Founders had in mind when they
contemplated the need to swiftly fill crucial offices so the
government could discharge its limited Constitutional duties.
"When Congress refuses to act and as a result hurts our economy
and puts people at risk, I have an obligation as president to do
what I can without them,” President Obama explained. “I will not
stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology
ahead of the people they were elected to serve." And yet,
somehow the Republic prospered quite nicely without a Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau until now. In fact, it prospered
quite a bit more than it has under Obama’s job-killing policies
and budget-busting corruption.
The Constitution of the United States
obliges you
to stand by sometimes, Mr. Obama. That’s the entire point of
placing limits upon your imperial power. Those limits do not
exist to be discarded when a really brilliant President becomes
especially angry at a minority he judges unfit to fulfill its
representative duties. What chills every American should feel,
hearing this extremist, arrogant President declare that he “will
not stand by”
while a
minority takes lawful actions he disapproves of!