Wednesday, February 29, 2012

The self-fulfilling prophecy of an all-powerful president

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During last week’s Republican presidential debate in Arizona, Mitt Romney said: “I will repeal Obamacare.” In a February 4 tweet, Newt Gingrich said: “On day one I will repeal Obamacare.” In a campaign ad released on December 9, Rick Perry said: “I’m an outsider who will repeal Obamacare.” Last June 14 on “Good Morning America,” Michele Bachmann said: “I will repeal Obamacare.” The Obama/Biden 2012 campaign website states: “President Obama passed the Affordable Care Act.”

So there you have it. Our sitting president and four Republicans who aspire to the office assert that they can single-handedly enact or repeal the laws of our nation. In the president’s case, he may actually believe it. It was only a few days ago that he said, “When Congress refuses to act, Joe and I will act.” But he and two of the four Republicans have served, or now serve, in the United States Congress. You would think they might show a little more respect for the constitutional role of the people’s elected representatives.

To his credit, former senator Rick Santorum has been a little more circumspect. He wrote in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal that “I’ll submit legislation to repeal Obamacare.” But then he also wrote that “all Obama administration regulations that have an economic burden over $100 million will be repealed,” and “I’ll cut means-tested entitlement programs by 10% across the board, freeze them for four years, and block grant them to states.”

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