Obama’s Recess Appointment to the NLRB and Consumer Protection Was Unlawful

Source – PJMedia

As I lift my head out of my self imposed vacation news cacoon, I’m both happy and disappointed I hunkered down for at least a little while. The above story is a great example of why news blackouts hurt.

My thoughts after the jump.

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President Obama recently made recess appointments in violation of the constitution, congressional rules, and in outright defiance of congress. He gave a speech defending his move, essentially challenging congress with his attitude of ‘I’m going to work with you before I go around you’. I don’t say this lightly – this is dictator-light lingo.

That isn’t compromise, and it’s stepping beyond the bounds of the presidency. A commenter on a related piece in PJMedia points out the specific constitutional violations here  — section 3 article 2 — and the PJ Tattler (linked above) does an excellent job of pointing out specifically how Obama’s actions violated senate rules and is a direct affront to the Senate’s ‘Advise and Consent’ power delegated in the constitution.

This is a pretty big deal folks. Review the second link if you would – Obama has within the past several months pushed a hard message that if congress doesn’t do it he will. Presidents really are not supposed to do that. He’s recently been huge on ‘signing statements’ on laws, and has arguably abused executive power in ways that made the media scream back in the bush years but now? Silence. Or fawning praise.

“It’s ok if my guy does it cause he’s right!” Is not a valid argument. If the president is distressed over our big messy democracy that’s tough for him – he has to work within the system just like every other president has. He’s exhibiting that lovely symptom of radical progressivism that insists the end justifies the means. It’s one thing when the occupy movement does it, but it’s altogether another when the president does. That’s a very dangerous fire to play with.

The president has made his challenge – if congress (here’s looking at you Mitch McConnel) has any stones they’ll resist this with all they have. If this stands the precedent set will be a victory for executive authoritarianism and a loss for the american people.

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Reminder – Tomorrow’s podcast will start at 7:30pm pacific time!

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EDIT 6/10/13: Minor polishing