Stroke that pen, Obie

By Michael J. Smith on Sunday June 17, 2012 09:31 PM

So Obromney recently allowed as how we should stop deporting children.

Bully for him. I note that he was in a position to do this without any help from Congress at all. Which of course makes me wonder, why didn't he do it sometime in late January of 2009?

The answer is obvious of course, and need not detain us. But it does bring up a somewhat interesting avenue of reflection.

For quite a long time now, Congress has been industriously surrendering its prerogatives to an increasing imperial presidency. This is not a novel observation; the only question is, how far back do we go? Roosevelt -- or Lincoln?

That being so, it's fascinating to see all my Obamaphile friends defending Obie's worse-than-disappointing first term on the grounds that those bad ole Republicans in Congress have him tied hand and foot, poor baby.

It is a standard trope of the breathlessly power-worshipping groupie press to observe that the US President is 'the most powerful man in the world' -- pardon me for a moment while I attend to a small matter of personal hygiene. Like all cliches, of course, it is true. A US President has powers that a Roman Caesar could never have dreamed of; and of course those powers have increased during the current God-Emperor's tenure, as they have in every preceding one since... since... Lincoln. Or Roosevelt.

But my apologetic friends think Obie is a kind of Prisoner Of The Vatican; an ineffectual figurehead. Which of course in turn raises the question: Why is it so important to keep this particular figurehead in place? If he can't do anything, then can he stop anything either?

Oh well, I'm the last person to argue with religion. Credo quia absurdum always seemed like a sound maxim to me. But it's curious to see what people choose to put their faith in. I always thought the Psalmist's advice was rather sound: Put not your trust in princes!

Comments (7)

sk:

Perhaps something like a Lateran Pact can be negotiated to free our Prisoner of the Vatican. Thus empowered he could follow in footsteps of the person listed at the end of that concordat and use his novel powers to make planes depart on time.

op:

executive orders are most always about
theatrical governance

a gesture like closing that prison in cuba that didn't happen

this one is particularly theatrical
hardly at the level
of trumans integration of the military
or jfk's okay
to federal employee
unionization

hell corporate america
is one thousand percent behind ohbummer
on this

Chomskyzinn:

Corporate America is for no borders.

op:

"Corporate America is for no borders"


that's really interesting

in fact if you look at ithe planet
as a game board
some borders often many borders
are very useful for trans national corporations

it is true that amur-corp wants the entire planet to be safe for their activity
their investment their patents their exports and imports

its a very complex
and context shifting
"world economy " affair they want

filled with borders lined
with doors
in various combinations
of open and /closes doors
each border with only one door
thru which each tradeable commodity or security can pass


-----------------------------
this btw
bordered global market model
is my maximum contemplative time
budgetary item

at least since my business was shot out from under me in 2000

its sort of
a Magnum O

for a monomaniacal and revenge filled but utterly marginalized mind

but its a very complex and context shifting "world economic borders map"
they want

"It is a standard trope of the breathlessly power-worshipping groupie press to observe that the US President is 'the most powerful man in the world'...

But my apologetic friends think Obie is a kind of Prisoner Of The Vatican; an ineffectual figurehead."

Cognitive dissonance is a way of life with those folks.

They believe whatever it is they need to believe in any given moment to justify what they want believe in. It's mind boggling.

I can't perform that trick no matter how many shots of whiskey I down.

Anonymous:

Sorry for mixing pleasure with politics, but I cannot post a comment on your sailing blog. I can type it and then it gives the preview with the security words, but no button or anything to send at that point. Maybe just me. Anyway, nice to see you in the water and writing about your adventures. Are you re-attempting Maine this year?
Greg,
New Bedford

MJS:

Weird. I just tried it using the 'name/URL' option and it seems fine.

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Note also that comments with three or more links may be held for "moderation" -- a strange term to apply to the ghost in this blog's machine. Seems to be a hard-coded limitation of the blog software, unfortunately.

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