Walking It Back…Again
The budget bill that passed Congress Thursday also included a provision to defund a number of White House czars -- the high-level presidential appointees whose ranks have swelled in recent decades as a means of skirting Senate confirmation hearings….But on Friday night, Obama declared that he intends to ignore that part of the budget legislation, issuing a relatively rare "signing statement" after he inked the budget deal in which he argued that the legislative effort to eliminate those positions was an unconstitutional infringement on the executive branch….Still, it's worth noting that the use of the tool stands in stark contrast to the position Obama took during the presidential campaign, when he criticized George W. Bush's use of signing statements and went so far as to suggest the practice violated basic constitutional law. (our emphasis) (HuffingtonPost.com, 4/16/11)
Democrats joined Republicans in expressing outrage at this abuse of presidential power. Just kidding!
Singular
(Obama) has poisoned the well for bipartisan negotiations, killing any chance of a grand budget bargain in the next 18 months. With a single speech he has relegated America to two more years of partisan budgetary stalemate, as we drift closer and closer to fiscal oblivion. (Keith Hennessey, CNN.com, 4/15/11)
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