Obama defies Congress: Nominations could provoke Constitutional fight

The President, in his own words said that he will go his own way without Congressional approval to get "what he wants" done.

“I refuse to take ‘No’ for an answer. I’ve said before that I will continue to look for every opportunity to work with Congress to move this country forward. But when Congress refuses to act in a way that hurts our economy and puts people at risk, I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them,” Mr. Obama said.

So much for Constitutional checks and balances. Does anyone now think that he is not a dictator in the making?

You can see his strategy. He is invoking the ire of Congress so that they retaliate, and then he will accuse the Republicans of racism and holding up needed jobs legislation. The MSM will report it that way and the "gullible" and government leeches will elevate his poll numbers.

Excerpt: Defying Congress, President Obama used his recess appointment powers Wednesday to name a head for the controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and three new members to the National Labor Relations board — moves Republican senators said amounted to a constitutional power grab.

The president acted just a day after the Senate held a session, breaking with at least three different precedents that said the Senate must be in recess for at least three days for a recess appointment. Mr. Obama himself was part of two of those precedents, both during his own time in the Senate and again in 2010 when one of his administration’s top constitutional lawyers made the three-day argument to the Supreme Court

The Constitution gives the president the power to make appointments when the Senate is not in session and able to confirm them. Traditionally, that has been understood to mean when the Senate has adjourned for a recess longer than 10 days, and a Clinton administration legal opinion said a recess must be at least three days.

Mr. Obama’s own top constitutional lawyers affirmed that view in 2010 in another case involving recess appointments. Asked what the standard was for making recess appointments, then-Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal told the justices the administration agreed with the three-day rule.

“The recess appointment power can work in a recess. I think our office has opined the recess has to be longer than 3 days,” Mr. Katyal said.

But by abrogating decades of understanding of the recess appointment power Mr. Obama threatened to spark a full legislative war with Congress.

“Breaking from this precedent lands this appointee in uncertain legal territory, threatens the confirmation process and fundamentally endangers the Congress’s role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch,” Mr. McConnell said.

Read full Washington Times article here.