Obama Strategy:  Demonize and Bypass Congress

Weren't not going to wait for legislation. I can use my pen to sign executive orders.

President Obama,  January 13, 2014

Where I can act of my own, I 'm going to do so.

President Obama, January 15, 2014 

President Obama has three options leading up to the November midterm elections:   compromise with Republicans, demonize them, and defy them by issuing executive orders.

He has chosen the last two options.

One, he has signaled he will demonize them by saying they are obstructing his progressive agenda by ignoring the needs for the poor, the minorities, and the have-nots.  He will push for a national minimal wage.  He will campaign for income equality.  He will extend unemployment benefits.  He will aggressively promote ObamaCare subsidies for the uninsured and those below four times the poverty line. 

He will characterize Republicans as evil,  as promoters of benefits for the top 1%.  The irony is that,  five years into his administration,  the rich have grown richer,  and the poor and the middle class have grown poorer.

In these various efforts,  he will be following the advice of Saul Alinsky (1909-1972),   patron saint of social organizers.   In 1971, Alinsky wrote A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals.   His book was designed to serve as a guide for future community organizers to unite low income communities of the have-nots to empower them to gain social, political, and economic equality.  

Rule # 7 was “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.”  And a potent weapon it has been,  helping him to win the 2008 and 2012 elections by ridiculing Republicans  for keeping the have-nots down, and thereby by overwhelming winning  the votes of minorities,  women in poverty,  and the young.  This message, of course, resonates with his liberal political base.

Two,  President Obama will bypass House and Senate Republicans by  continuing to issue a series of execute orders to advance his political agenda.     He will focus on income equality,  environmental issues,  climate change,  immigration reform, gun control,  contraceptive mandate,s  and whatever changes or delays in ObamaCare  are needed to win the November 2014 midterms. 

 In his words, ““I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone. And I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions … and I’ve got a phone that allows me to convene Americans from every walk of life.” There is nothing new about his proclivity for issuing these orders.   He has issued 923 executive orders during his 40 months in office.  What is new is his urgency to retain the Senate in November 2014 and to avoid becoming a lame duck should Republicans win both chambers of Congress and  threaten to repeal or radically change ObamaCare.   Obama’s use of executive orders have ignited lawsuits challenging the constitutionality  of  President Obama’s overuse of executive orders.   The lawsuits may eventually land in the Supreme Court, who will have to decide the limits of Presidential authority.

Tweet:    President Obama has signaled he will challenge the GOP by demonizing them and by issuing execute orders to bypass their constitutional authority.