Posted on 11/18/2010 10:10:08 AM PST by My Favorite Headache
The liberal Center for American Progress doesn’t believe significant GOP gains in the House and Senate should stop the President from implementing more of his polices. The group released a report Tuesday suggesting ways Obama can bypass Congress to accomplish a progressive agenda, and it cites the president’s power as commander-in-chief to make its point.
“I think most of the conversation since the election has been about how President Obama adjusts to the new situation on Capitol Hill,” Center for American Progress head and former Bill Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta told the Daily Caller. “While that’s an important conversation, it simply ignores the president’s ability to use all levels of his power and authority to move the country forward.”
How does one “move the country forward”? In the center’s report, Podesta explains that Obama can use executive orders, rulemaking, and even the armed forces “to accomplish important change” and that such means “should not be underestimated.”
What exactly does Podesta think the president should use such powers to “accomplish”? Among others, the report suggests “job creation,“ ”quality affordable health care,“ ”sustainable security,“ and ”a clean energy future.”
The report cites specific goals such as mitigating the effects of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, supporting a Palestinian state, and reducing greenhouse gasses by 17 percent by 2020.
“The U.S. Constitution and the laws of our nation grant the president significant authority to make and implement policy,” Podesta writes. ”Congressional gridlock does not mean the federal government stands still.”
Statement from John D. Podesta November 15, 2010
In the aftermath of this month’s midterm congressional elections, pundits and politicians across the ideological spectrum are focusing on how difficult it will be for President Barack Obama to advance his policy priorities through Congress. Predictions of stalemate abound. And some debate whether the administration should tack to the left or to the center and compromise with or confront the new House leadership.
As a former White House chief of staff, I believe those to be the wrong preoccupations. President Obama’s ability to govern the country as chief executive presents an opportunity to demonstrate strength, resolve, and a capacity to get things done on a host of pressing challenges of importance to the public and our economy. Progress, not positioning, is what the public wants and deserves.
The U.S. Constitution and the laws of our nation grant the president significant authority to make and implement policy. These authorities can be used to ensure positive progress on many of the key issues facing the country through:
* Executive orders * Rulemaking * Agency management * Convening and creating public-private partnerships * Commanding the armed forces * Diplomacy
The ability of President Obama to accomplish important change through these powers should not be underestimated. President Bush, for example, faced a divided Congress throughout most of his term in office, yet few can doubt his ability to craft a unique and deeply conservative agenda using every aspect of the policymaking apparatus at his disposal. And, after his party lost control of Congress in 1994, President Clinton used executive authority and convening power to make significant progressive change. For instance, he protected more great spaces in the lower 48 states than any president since Theodore Roosevelt, established for the first time significant protections for Americans’ medical privacy, and urged the creation of the Welfare-to-Work Partnership that enlisted the help of 20,000 businesses in moving more than 1 million welfare recipients into the workforce.
The upshot: Congressional gridlock does not mean the federal government stands still. This administration has a similar opportunity to use available executive authorities while also working with Congress where possible. At the Center for American Progress, we look forward to our nation continuing to make progress.
Read the full report (pdf)
Download the executive summary (pdf)
Download the report to e-readers and mobile devices from Scribd
To speak with our experts on this topic, please contact:
Print: Megan Smith (health care, education, economic policy) 202.741.6346 or msmith@americanprogress.org
Print: Anna Soellner (foreign policy and security, energy) asoellner@americanprogress.org
Print: Raúl Arce-Contreras (ethnic media, immigration) 202.478.5318 or rarcecontreras@americanprogress.org
Radio: Laura Pereyra 202.741.6258 or lpereyra@americanprogress.org
TV: Andrea Purse 202.741.6250 or apurse@americanprogress.org
Web: Erin Lindsay 202.741.6397 or elindsay@americanprogress.org http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/11/executive_orders.html/#statement
I have warned conservatives many times that the communist playbook calls for crushing their enemies physically.
Old Adolph comes to mind for some reason.
I’m just having a hard time pinpointing why.. /S
the hell??
Illegality means nothing to these people.
There’s that “domestic military” Obama said he wanted.
No, he did not! A Republican congress twisted his arms and made him move to the center to sign these laws.
The American serviceman serves the People and protects the constitution.
Not the despot in chief.
One wonders if he were to give such an illegal order, how long it would take for the joint chiefs to remove him from office.
Don’t you love how they think that Clinton’s illegal land grab was the best thing since sliced bread?
Podesta, you are a f***ing commie whose time to expire is long overdue!
Bingo! Allowing homosexuals to serve openly will lead to militant gay cliques in the military, will drive out heterosexuals and will turn the military into a politically correct political instrument.
We are so stupid falling for non issues. Why should anyone in the military be talking about what they do with a homosexual sex partner? Why should that issue matter to our military?
My stomach just dropped to the floor. If there was ever a time people...ever a time...to load up on everything we need the time is now. Our volunteer military better not turn on us...
The advantage is EO can be undone by the next sitting President.
Bring it on.
HIV/AIDS/HepC comes to mind.
I’m shocked, but I also knew it was only a matter of time. I had hoped (and indeed, prayed) that saner minds would prevail, and there’s still hope that they might. But this is truly beyond the pale.
You're correct. And, if memory serves, Clinton vetoed this twice before. He only signed it because there was a veto-proof majority the 3rd time around.
This is why when defending the US Constitution according to their oaths, military officers MUST confront whether their Commander-in-Chief is Constitutionally qualified for the job. If he is not, then they themselves become the weapon a tyrant uses AGAINST the Constitution and the American people.
Podesta accidentally revealed why no military person should obey this Kenyan who was put in place by coup - never having met the Constitution’s 2 procedural qualifications to become POTUS (being lawfully certified as the electoral winner, and “qualifying” before Jan 20th)
Liberals really are a cancer.
It seems the TSA has already taken a page from Podestas.
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