"Now, if Republicans think that I will finish the job of deficit reduction through spending cuts alone — and you hear that sometimes coming from them … then they've got another think coming. … That's not how it's going to work at least as long as I'm president," he said.
"And I'm going to be president for the next four years, I think," he added. (Deal on the Fiscal Cliff)
President Obama once again betrays his progressive bias, a disdain for the essential checks and balances embedded in our federal government.
He may be the President, but he has to negotiate with Congress. Congress makes the laws, not the President, not the Judiciary, and certainly not the Fourth Branch of Government, replete with administrative agencies and Czars doing their own bidding outside the view, review, and purview of Congress.
How many executive orders does the President believe that he can enact without sparking more outrage from the states and the people?
The federalist experience is still in full swing. Thirty governors have refused to implement Medicare exchanges. Tim Scott, among other Republican state executives, has led the fight against the growth of federal power. One of two fatal liabilities lie in wait for this President.
He will run out of other people's money. He will lose any legitimacy of putting the interests of the people ahead of his own interests.
The "fiscal cliff" talks dragged out to the last minute. There is no excuse for such unserious leadership. None.
He may be President for the next four years, but that fact by no means implies that Washington remains his playground to do as he pleases. He is the Chief Executive, not the dictator.