Posted on 02/12/2014 3:32:53 AM PST by LD Jackson
This may be considered old news, but I'm just now getting to it because I've been under the weather for a couple of days. Nothing like a stomach bug to take the wind out of your sails.
By now, anyone who is paying attention knows President Obama has exercised the authority he does not have and delayed the ObamaCare employer mandate, yet again. If you are keeping track, I have lost count of the number of times he has changed or delayed the law and its rocky implementation, seemingly all at his political whim. Not only has he delayed the employer mandate, he also has also issued new rules concerning the way said mandate would be enforced.
Fox News - The administration on Monday announced a second delay for the so-called employer mandate. It had initially been pushed off until 2015, but in a concession to business, Treasury Department officials announced Monday that the administration would not enforce the rules across the board next year.This is nothing new, really. President Obama has made a habit of changing written law since he took the oath of office and it hasn't been limited to ObamaCare. He has also been playing around with our immigration laws. What is noteworthy, at least to me, is his attitude about the changes he has made. He is insinuating that he will continue to be "flexible" in the way the law is implemented, all in the name of making ObamaCare work in an "optimal sort of way".Instead, the administration will give employers with 50 to 99 employees until 2016 before being required to cover full-time staff or pay a penalty.
Under the changes, employers with 100 or more workers will be required to provide health insurance to full-time staff next year. However, the new rules will only require them to cover 70 percent of workers at first; and then 95 percent the following year and beyond. As before, companies with fewer than 50 employees will not be required to provide health coverage.
The president addressed the changes during a joint press conference with French President Francois Hollande, who is in Washington on an official state visit. Under criticism from Republicans for repeatedly tweaking the implementation of the health care law, Obama said the latest delay was meant to help employers operating in "good faith" so that no one is "unnecessarily burdened" or punished.I just love the way he twists words and their meaning to make it appear he is doing a good thing. A word to the less than politically astute about the President's "flexibility" on ObamaCare. It's called pandering and it is no coincidence he is doing it in the months leading up to the mi-term elections. This is just one way he is looking to help his party make the gains they are looking for in Congress."This was [an] example of, administratively, us making sure that we're smoothing out this transition," Obama said. Without going into detail, the president suggested the administration would continue to be flexible on the law.
"Where we've got companies that want to do the right thing and they're trying to work with us, we want to make sure that we're working with them as well. And that's going to be our attitude about the law generally -- how do we make it work ... in an optimal sort of way," he said.
To start with, he does not have the authority, as President and granted by the Constitution, to be this flexible on the law. Any law! He is creating his own authority by claiming he is making administrative decisions, but the reality is much different. He is taking the basic foundations of ObamaCare and changing them to suit his own political needs. As I have already pointed out, he is doing the same with our immigration laws.
President Obama is fond of telling how he has fought for the middle class and the average American citizen. He pits the "haves" against the "have-nots" and has done so since the beginning of his tenure in the White House. Funny thing about that, take a look at who he is willing to bend and break the law for. The immigration laws he has sidelined by Executive Order favor many businesses because they want cheaper labor. And the multiple ObamaCare changes, all the name of flexibility? Well, you don't see the individual mandate being delayed, do you? And you won't because the focus of this President is not really where he says it is. Trust me, he is much more concerned about how his party fares in the 2014 elections than he is about the effect ObamaCare is having on the middle class, the average American citizen.
Your point is well taken, but the reality is that Congress’ only tool is to impeach Obama for doing unconstitutional things. They will not do this because the people of this country would simply nort support such an act. In fact, impeaching Obama would most likely lead to violence and civil unrest. Simply put, the people have Obama’s back (via ignorance or actual support). Obama knows this and therefore does what he does. Now, is Obama breaking his oath? Will courts act to thwart this behavior when they can? Can the GOP use this unconstitutional behavior as talking points in election years? Yes, maybe, and yes!!!
Historians will not judge Obama’s presidency kindly because he has been a mess as a leader. His great contribution to our society is to be the first black president. In the short run this obviously buys him undeserved credibility. In the long term, when we’re on our fifth black president (a couple probably conservative) and our third women president (one also a conservative), President Obama will look small and petty....just like the person you and I already see....because we don’t see color.....we see failure.
Could not agree more
Could not agree more
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