Obama is suddenly interested in limiting the sweeping presidential powers he spent 8 years expanding

[nungesser]

@simonize

They have been but when the only limits on its use are the ones instituted by the president HIMSELF, that is a power that will INEVITABLY be abused.

agreed

[nungesser]

@LapsedPacifist

Don’t you dare defend what Obama did.

I specifically said I didn’t defend the drone program.

[Mister44]

You know, I get your point, but what exactly are they “getting done” with the increased surveillance measure and continued drone support and keeping Gitmo open?

Had he used his executive powers for - I dunno - humanitarian relief, I’d agree with you more on this.

As much as I didn’t welcome Obama initially, I have been completely dismayed at the feed back loop of shit the Republicans have formed around him. It has widened the partisan gap, and strengthened the “us vs them” mentality for both sides. All in all, he hasn’t been that bad. I guess some people will pat themselves on the back for not letting him destroy America by blocking everything, but at the same time they did have a few years of Democrat controlled Legislative branch and we are still here. So while I can’t claim to approve of everything he has done, I also don’t think he as bad as the opposition says he is (of course I feel that way about other presidents in the past as well.)

[nungesser]

@laynesk

I was going to say how everyone on the left just got out the kneepads and excused away all the Obama administrations unchecked abuse of power with the usual weak-ass litany of excuses (racism! obstructionist GOP! it’s the right thing to do!), and then someone comes out and demonstrates my point perfectly.

That would be me. And yes, I will continue to state that Obama exercised an unprecedented use of Presidential power in response to a racist, obstructionist GOP, because it’s a fact. Do I defend his use of drones to kill people? Absolutely not. But I understand why he worked around a government that was specifically broken to prevent him from advancing anything he proposed.

@Mister44

Had he used his executive powers for - I dunno - humanitarian relief, I’d agree with you more on this.

He did, actually. He used his executive powers for things like expanding healthcare, protecting gay people in the workplace, fix the immigration system, create a relief system for tens of millions of immigrants, promote green energy, and minimize global climate change.

[Artor]

So extrajudicial drone strikes on US citizens is “tightly under reigns” (sic) now? Who knew?

[nungesser]

@Artor

So extrajudicial drone strikes on US citizens is “tightly under reigns” (sic) now? Who knew?

I apologize for my terrible phrasing and poor prose. What I meant was “in comparison to what Trump is proposing”.

[laynesk]

@simonize

The drone and intelligence programs have been kept tightly under reigns, despite the alarmist rhetoric here.

HAH. Oh jesus, that’s truly hysterical. The drone program that is classified TOP SECRET, strictly controlled only by the President and his advisors, is being kept under tight control. Trust them! Never mind pesky judicial review or civilian oversight by the voting public.

The current, acting president secretly approved murder of an American citizen with zero judicial constraint. Can you imagine any of the current presidential cheerleaders holding that same position after Jan 20? And that’s not even mentioning the huge increases in deportation, domestic spying, drug prosecutions, and persecution of Federal whistleblowers.

The orbit of the planet will dip noticeably on Jan 20, with the amount of ethical flip-flopping that’s going to occur.

[Lot_49]

Obama never had a strong, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, not even in 2009-11. Here’s Fox News’ take on it:

Democrats' Senate Supermajority Not as Strong as Advertised

The GOPers are disingenuous when they say he should’ve done everything then. The filibuster can stop anything; even Obamacare–and W’s tax cuts–had to be passed under reconciliation rules, which only require a simple majority.

[anon50609448]

@laynesk

I was going to say how everyone on the left just got out the kneepads and excused away all the Obama administrations unchecked abuse of power with the usual weak-ass litany of excuses (racism! obstructionist GOP! it’s the right thing to do!), and then someone comes out and demonstrates my point perfectly.

And I wouldn’t blame you for saying so, since I think the majority of the media pretty firmly in one or two camps. The BB message board, however, is probably of the majority opinion that death sentences are universally wrong, let alone extra-judicial ones.

I can get my head around not closing Guantanamo because that was way more complicated than just closing the doors (my own stupid was obstructing the US government’s efforts to give us back one of our own citizens for more than half of Obama’s administration and some of Bush’s). But saying, “Hey, killing people on the president’s orders is not even close to okay” is something he could have done day one. No laws needed to change, the whole thing is obviously illegal to begin with.

[nungesser]

Again, apologies for being an idiot. i misphrased, i meant “in comparison to what Trump is proposing”, not "in comparison to what we had before. terrible phrasing and poor writing.

[Mister44]

@nungesser

He did, actually. He used his executive powers for things like expanding healthcare, protecting gay people in the workplace, fix the immigration system, create a relief system for tens of millions of immigrants, promote green energy, and minimize global climate change.

Fair enough on those points.

[tgarretteaton]

@Mister44

Had he used his executive powers for - I dunno - humanitarian relief, I’d agree with you more on this.

To add to @nungesser , he also increased the cap on salaried employees who receive overtime, something that is now under threat. I’m disappointed that he did so little to roll back the Bush era executive powers, but understand why he did it. Now that those powers will rest in the tiny hands of a madman, it becomes entirely clear why executive powers need to be reduced, and should have been long ago.

[nemomen]

Keep pushing that one. We need to dissuade as many as possible to lower competition for immigration slots.

[nemomen]

@LapsedPacifist

The one single solitary bright spot of the Trump election is that people are finally waking up to what he did. There isn’t time to fix it, however.

I’m not sure that the sum of people who are aware of Obama’s executive expansion and concerned about it for principled (rather than partisan) reasons has increased. Cory’s railed on it for years as have others from the left. This article’s preaching to the choir.

Also, is it a bright spot if people wake up to seeing they’re going to be abused at a point too late to prevent it?

[laynesk]

@nungesser

I will continue to state that Obama exercised an unprecedented use of Presidential power in response to a racist, obstructionist GOP, because it’s a fact. Do I defend his use of drones to kill people? Absolutely not. But I understand why he worked around a government that was specifically broken to prevent him from advancing anything he proposed

Great! So you agree that he’s abused the hell out of the executive branch with one unchecked action after another. But it’s OK, as long as you smear the opposition as a evil, unprincipled stereotypes and throw tantrums when people don’t roll over in obeisance.

The rhetorical niceties (“exercised” VS “abused”) or the fact that plenty of principled arguments exist for objecting to Obama’s platforms don’t change the fact that his actions feel more at home in Freedonia than a Constitutional democracy. I bet you’ll be just as understanding when Trump lashes out and goes around Constitutional limits because he impugns the motivations of the people opposing his absurd positions.

[LapsedPacifist]

The drone and intelligence programs have been kept tightly under reigns,

I’m sorry I don’t know how else to interpret these words but defense. The only reins tight enough for a assassination program are those that strangle the horse.

[LapsedPacifist]

My God! You are right! If Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld are war criminals and murderous bastards why that means Obama isn’t because of um…

…the compresence of opposites?

That’s some screwed up metaphysics you are operating under.

The most striking difference between the previous set of war criminals and this set of war criminals is that we gave the ringleader of this set of war criminals a Nobel peace prize, and he still has people (some of which I could name right now, in fact, ahem) defending him. Bush is pretty universally a joke, I think you’ll find, though a few years of the Trumpenreich might gild his presidency in retrospect.

[nungesser]

@tgarretteaton

Now that those powers will rest in the tiny hands of a madman, it becomes entirely clear why executive powers need to be reduced, and should have been long ago.

I think Obama was unfortunately as short sighted as the Hillary team in assuming (as many did) that it would be utterly impossible to have a President Trump. It’s awkward but true that I think he assumed expanded executive powers would transition to Hillary as his surrogate and is now panicking to pull them back.

@laynesk

Great! So you agree that he’s abused the hell out of the executive branch with one unchecked action after another. But it’s OK, as long as you smear the opposition as a evil, unprincipled stereotypes and throw tantrums when people don’t roll over in obeisance.

Thank you for putting words in my mouth, but no, I didn’t say that.

[Marianne_Atkins]

Thank you, @nungesser. I kept waiting to get to the counterpoint part of the article… but it never showed up. I like Cory, but this was damn disappointing.

I guess other posters are “proud 'neath heated brow” because they forget where we’ve been and want to blame Obama for where we’re going… but it seems pretty plain they can’t handle the truth. Are none of them e.g. parents who can reason by analogy? Do they think Obama wanted to kill innocent civilians? Of course strikes on funerals were f’ups he’d take back if he could! Of course he knew the potential, long-lasting consequences. To equate that with excusing the death of innocents is incredibly sophomoric. And maybe, just maybe, he’s got a little more information than the armchair moralists?

Congress – including congressional Democrats – remain a far more appropriate target for the metaphorical drone strike of indignation. Angry about where we are now because of the tools Obama used? Get off yer hiney and do something other than bask in the warm glow of self-righteous outrage…

[anon68952647]

I hear that An old man turned ninety-eight and that he won the lottery _and died the next da_y