|
During the Clinton
occupation I spent a lot of time trying to understand the Executive Order. The idea
that the president of this democratic republic of ours can legislate by
fiat is just so .. so counterintuitively preposterous. I mean,
he's not a federal judge
</snark>.
What I do remember from that research is that what one expert said over
here was countermanded by that expert over there; sort of like dealing
with the IRS. A detail that stuck, for some reason, is Texas
democrat Henry B. Gonzalez saying that the EO, in the hands of an
unscrupulous president, could represent a threat to the nation.
You owe it to yourself to read this article by Examiner columnist Gene Healy:
Congress
should 'shellack' president's executive orders. [Sample]
| “
|
After
last Tuesday's "shellacking," it's a fair bet President Obama will find
rule by decree kinda cool as well. A recent report from the American
Prospect argues "President Obama's own executive power is a key to
creating jobs at higher wages," and he should reshape federal
contracting to promote unionization and the "living wage."
Such ideas likely sound increasingly appealing to the embattled
president. Even when his party controlled Congress, Obama relished the
chance to proclaim "make it so!" such as summarily firing GM's CEO,
handing Chrysler over to the United Auto Workers, and, without any
legal authority, strong-arming BP into putting $20 billion in escrow.
|
|
What Gonzalez was talking about.
|
|
