A LAME DUCK COUNTRY?

Thomas Sowell 


Pundits are pointing to President Barack
Obama's recent decline in public opinion
polls, and saying that he may now become
another "lame duck" president, unable to
accomplish much during his final term in
office.
That has happened to other presidents. But it
is extremely unlikely to happen to this
president. There are reasons why other
presidents have become impotent during
their last years in office. But those reasons do
not apply to Barack Obama.
The Constitution of the United States does not
give presidents the power to carry out major
policy changes without the cooperation of
other branches of government. Once the
country becomes disenchanted with a
president during his second term, Congress
has little incentive to cooperate with him --
and, once Congress becomes uncooperative,
there is little that a president can do on his
own.
That is, if he respects the Constitution.
President Obama has demonstrated, time and
again, that he has no respect for the
Constitution's limitations on his power.
Despite his oath of office, to see that the laws
are faithfully executed, Barack Obama has
unilaterally changed welfare reform laws, by
eliminating the work requirement passed by
Congress during the Clinton administration.
He has repeatedly and unilaterally changed
or waived provisions of the ObamaCare law
passed by Congress during his own
administration.
President Obama has ordered Border Patrol
agents not to carry out provisions of the
immigration laws that he does not like. We
see the results today in the tens of thousands
of illegal immigrants entering the country
unimpeded.
President Obama's oath of office obviously
means no more to him than his oft-repeated
promise that "you can keep your own doctor"
under ObamaCare.
Why do we have a Constitution of the United
States if a president can ignore it without any
consequences?
The Constitution cannot protect our rights if
we do not protect the Constitution. Freedom
is not free, and the Constitution is just some
words on paper if we do not do anything to
those who violate it.
What can ordinary citizens do?
Everything! Theirs is the ultimate power of
the ballot that can bring down even the most
powerful elected official.
The most important thing the voters can do is
vote against anyone who violates the
Constitution. When someone who has violated
the Constitution repeatedly gets re-elected,
then the voters are accomplices in the erosion
of protection for their own freedom.
Laws without penalties are just suggestions --
and suggestions are a pitiful defense against
power.
After voters have failed to protect the
Constitution, the last-ditch remedy is
impeachment. But Barack Obama knows that
he is not going to be impeached.
Who wants to provoke a Constitutional crisis
and riots in the streets? And, worst of all, end
up with Joe Biden as President of the United
States? Some cynics long ago referred to
Barack Obama's choice of mental lightweight
Biden to be his vice president as
"impeachment insurance."
With neither the Constitution, nor the voters,
nor the threat of impeachment to stop him,
Barack Obama has clear sailing to use his
powers however he chooses.
Far from seeing his power diminish in his
last years, President Obama can extend his
power even beyond the end of his
administration by appointing federal judges
who share his disregard of the Constitution
and can enact his far-left agenda into law
from the bench, when it cannot be enacted
into law by the Congress.
Federal judges with lifetime tenure can make
irreversible decisions binding future
presidents and future Congresses. If
Republicans do not win control of the Senate
in this fall's elections, a Senate controlled by
Majority Leader Harry Reid can confirm
judges who will have the power to extend
Barack Obama's agenda and complete the
dismantling of Constitutional government.
Barack Obama can, as he said before taking
office, fundamentally "change the United
States of America." Far from being a lame
duck president, Obama can make this a lame
duck democracy.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the
Hoover Institution, Stanford University,
Stanford, CA 94305. His website is
www.tsowell.com. To find out more about
Thomas Sowell and read features by other
Creators Syndicate columnists and
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page at www.creators.com.