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
Not sure why you want the strawberries but I’ve got some in the freezer you could have if you like. lol.
The problem I see with the standard of having to obey an order unless it’s an order to rape and pillage is that it renders the actual elements of Article 92 moot. Why even mention that orders are unlawful if contrary to the Constitution, if constitutionality will never even be addressed?
And that’s precisely what makes me believe that the nation will be screwed if Obama decides to use the military for his progressive agenda. Because the military will never consider it appropriate for it to even question the constitutionality. As long as Obama doesn’t tell them to rape and pillage they will just follow orders.
It renders the officer’s oath impotent as well. Nobody will ever actually act on that oath to protect and defend the Constitution because if they did they would be butchered by the UCMJ system unless the “domestic enemy” looked like Snidely Whiplash and outright told them to shred the Constitution, which an enemy would never do until they were too crazy to be effective anyway.
I told my nephew/godson when he was commissioned last spring that he’s getting in at a time when it will be very difficult if not impossible to actually keep the oath he just made.
Judge Denise Lind made judicial note of Congress certifying Obama as the winner of the electoral vote, but there is an active lawsuit (filed before Obama was inaugurated and lolly-gagging its way along through the system at a snail’s pace) based on the fact that Cheney did not fulfill the legal requirement of asking Congress for any objections. IOW, Obama was never LAWFULLY certified as the electoral winner. Without that happening, he could not Constitutionally be inaugurated as POTUS. So the process itself tells us that Obama cannot be giving lawful orders at this point in time.
I just don’t see how any officer could NOT have the responsibility to object. Legally speaking, *I* am as qualified as Obama to act as CINC. What should the military officers do if I tried ordering them around?
I blame the whole thing on SCOTUS. There is no way they should have allowed this Constitutional crisis. I suspect that they did so because Soros threatened them with bringing the country to financial ruin through another run on the bank if anybody stalled the Obama coup. I believe the judges and justices have left telling clues behind to protest the decisions they made under duress.
Yea.
Treasonously hideous and over the cliff.
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.
You have been watching too many movies.
The current military brass all suffer from Beltway Disease and hold political and social opinions very much like you would expect from Colin Powell. You don't make flag officer rank by being a Patriot, in fact, Patriotism for the last generation is a definite liability in promotability.
As for the rest of the military, I strongly recommend reading up on the Milgram Experiments and the Stanford Prison Experiment. The latter is demonstrated right before your very eyes at your local airport.
While I don’t disagree it definitely limits the possibility of the unlawful order question - that was really the intent of it. They really only wanted to do 2 things with the oath
1) prevent the military from staging a coup and overthrowing the civilian government, and
2) prevent illegal atrocities - though that has become more the focal point since the ‘laws of war’ were formalized.
They weren’t really thinking about a possible civilian usurpation using extravagant machinations - of course they didn’t consider cars, planes, internet, phones, tvs, or most people living to close to 80 either. They figured people would still know people and who they were voting for. I think part of where we went wrong was limiting the size of the house and taking senators away from state control - but that’s just me.
And the oath hasn’t changed much since it’s inception and things at the start were more iffy then most people realize for a bit - especially during the articles of confederation and whiskey rebellion.
hehe - as to the strawberries - I referred to Bogart’s Caine Mutiny in my 1st/2nd post. There are 2 signficant scenes revolving around strawberries missing from the officer’s mess in the movie. The character had a habbit of rolling two brass balls in his hand when he was nervous or starting to get a bit “out of it” - it calmed him down. The court finally realizes he’s off when he relates the story of the strawberries and explains that’s when he knew the crew was out for him - all while slowly rotating the balls in his right hand. GOOD MOVIE related to the subject :)
Obama said he would make the “hard decisions” next year. He’s just gettin warmed up is all.
lol. I figured it had something to do with the movie but not having seen it I wasn’t sure what it meant. Well... I guess I’m the one who took your strawberries so just keep calming yourself with the brass balls and I promise not to steal any more strawberries. lol
I work a long, monotonous physical labor job that gives me a lot of time to think. Or watch movies. So maybe I’ll see if I can find that movie and watch it one of these days.
I think a lot of our defenses were not geared toward the kind of war and threats we face today. Maybe the enemies tailored their methods to match our vulnerabilities. I think we need to seriously look at those vulnerabilities though, because we definitely have serious enemies. Both the communists and Islamists have pretty much said that their game plan is to disguise themselves as normal Americans and topple the nation from within.
Sometimes I wonder if we are beyond ever undoing the damage already done by communists taking over basic infrastructure. And the Muslims are definitely on the move, as if they smell blood in the water.
We had a devotion today that asked how we would live if we knew we had one week left before dying. I said that’s a tough one because you can’t just snuggle with the family for a whole week so you’d have to find something else worth doing in that time also. And it would be a different response if I knew it was just me that would be dying, and not my whole family or the whole world ending or something.
I think about what my kids might see in their lifetimes, and so much of what I do is really fighting for their sake, for their future. If I knew there wasn’t a future to even fight for, my life would be totally different. So the questions about what happens if Obama truly turns this nation communist are not just theoretical mind games for me. That’s probably true for most people here.
Obama’s right on track to hugely reduce our so-called “greenhouse gas” emissions - by destroying our industrial base.
Good. Now I won't deny you the close in air support you may request.
I’m more an office geek these days - but it wears on me because of all the mind games & PC stuff people play these days. Part of why I got out was all the politics in the officer corps. I understand where your coming from on the devotional - I’m not much of a church goer, turned off it with the cliques that the ones I knew growing up in a small town had, but I read the good book and other studies on my own. It is though a different question if your on your own vs if you have to watch the family.
I’ve already decided that if the shooting were to ever stop I’d ship my wife back home to Japan with the kids and head for the woods of home. I can survive on my own pretty well with no issues - but picket ship tactics were never my forte :) That’s actually an easier battle in my mind - you know the enemy for the most part and you’ve got a goal in mind.
The harder one is as you say fighting for the future of your kids. So many people these days can’t look past tomorrow, let alone next year; so it’s hard to get the level of committment needed for the dedicated fight, and mentally it’s much more draining when you can’t fully grasp the enemy.
Fair winds following seas - and watch out for your strawberries :) (it really is a good movie)
oh oh if we’re playing service rivalry now - then I’ll put my good humor brown shoe fliers up against your zoomie bus drivers any day if the marines need close in air support
;0 arrrggggghhhhh
and yes I’m aware the cinc trophy is heading AFs way this year, but only after Navy’s held it for oh like ....4 or 5 years. :)
Go Navy Beat Army (and Air Force)!
Night folks
The more I hear, the more I see I find Glen Beck is right.
Call him what you want but he has been right so far.
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“The scenario to look at would be New Orleans after Katrina. The military will indeed shoot civilians because they have been convinced that it’s for the overall protection”
The National Guard seemed to have no problem assisting with gun confiscation and enforcing martial law during that dark chapter in New Orleans history. It is comforting that there are still plenty of people in the military who at least pay lip service to pro-freedom values and understand the Constitution. I just don’t want people on FR to count on a mass refusal of orders from the military if martial law is declared or some other scenario plays out that would have them posted up on our own streets doing a similar policing mission that we currently do in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I won’t cooperate with Obamamilitary action. I hope our troops don’t become the enemy of Americans.
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