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Despite his low approval ratings, President Barack Obama has not been challenged by Congress to the degree that many conservatives believe that he should be.
Claremont Institute president Brian T. Kennedy explained that the unwillingness to act by Congress enabled Obama to far exceed the limits of his power told The Daily Caller in an exclusive interview.
“The majority of Republicans want to find ways to win elections here in Washington, and that’s very satisfying to be in the majority,” he said. “But they are not recovering constitutional government
, and every year that goes by, we are living less and less under a Constitution and more and more under a bureaucracy.
“Under what authority in the Constitution can he suspend Obamacare for a year or now two?” Kennedy continued. “It can apply to some people but not other people? Under what authority in the Constitution? If you are a Republican congressman, what is your remedy? You can impeach him, but of course they know that if they bring articles of impeachment against the president, they will fail in the U.S. Senate… If the president wants to do what ever he wants to do what is the constitutional remedy? It’s only impeachment, but a Congress that won’t challenge him on so many things is unlikely to impeach him.”
Because of this, Kennedy said, the framework for government established by the Constitution is no longer relevant.
“We are almost living in a post-Constitutional age,” he said. “Where the actual respect for the Constitution and the constitutional forms, they exist but they don’t quite operate any more. These Republican Congressmen, as well intentioned as they are, don’t really have a method by which they can enforce the principles that they hold dear and so we are muddling along.”
Kennedy also explained how the mindset and mentality in Washington amongst Obama opponents works.
“It’s almost today in Washington as if people are waiting the eight years for Obama to be gone,” he said. “They’d like to get that behind them and they are doing their best just to hold on, make sure things don’t get that bad. But they don’t really feel like challenging Obama because they think he is a very popular president — at least in the mainstream media, he’s popular — and he did get re-elected. So they don’t know quite how to challenge that.”
Claremont Institute president Brian T. Kennedy explained that the unwillingness to act by Congress enabled Obama to far exceed the limits of his power told The Daily Caller in an exclusive interview.
“The majority of Republicans want to find ways to win elections here in Washington, and that’s very satisfying to be in the majority,” he said. “But they are not recovering constitutional government
, and every year that goes by, we are living less and less under a Constitution and more and more under a bureaucracy.“Under what authority in the Constitution can he suspend Obamacare for a year or now two?” Kennedy continued. “It can apply to some people but not other people? Under what authority in the Constitution? If you are a Republican congressman, what is your remedy? You can impeach him, but of course they know that if they bring articles of impeachment against the president, they will fail in the U.S. Senate… If the president wants to do what ever he wants to do what is the constitutional remedy? It’s only impeachment, but a Congress that won’t challenge him on so many things is unlikely to impeach him.”
Because of this, Kennedy said, the framework for government established by the Constitution is no longer relevant.
“We are almost living in a post-Constitutional age,” he said. “Where the actual respect for the Constitution and the constitutional forms, they exist but they don’t quite operate any more. These Republican Congressmen, as well intentioned as they are, don’t really have a method by which they can enforce the principles that they hold dear and so we are muddling along.”
Kennedy also explained how the mindset and mentality in Washington amongst Obama opponents works.
“It’s almost today in Washington as if people are waiting the eight years for Obama to be gone,” he said. “They’d like to get that behind them and they are doing their best just to hold on, make sure things don’t get that bad. But they don’t really feel like challenging Obama because they think he is a very popular president — at least in the mainstream media, he’s popular — and he did get re-elected. So they don’t know quite how to challenge that.”
