A Leftist Strongman

Last year, one of Barack Obama's advisors described the candidate's plans for pursuing carbon dioxide regulation when he took office.

[Jason] Grumet...said if Congress hasn't acted in 18 months, about the time it would take to draft [EPA] rules, the president should.... "The EPA is obligated to move forward in the absence of Congressional action," Grumet said.

This is what is now happening.

Under what system of government does the chief executive say to the legislature, in effect, "write the legislation I want, or else I will simply enact it by decree"? The answer: not under a system of representative government and the separation of powers. Barack Obama is proposing to govern, not in the manner of an American president, but in the manner traditionally sought by leftist strongmen like Hugo Chavez.

Robert Tracinski, RCP. Choking the life out of us.