Posted on 09/21/2011 4:27:22 PM PDT by RVN Airplane Driver
It's becoming clear that Obama's chances for re-election are becoming nearly impossible given his track record. Most Americans agree he has done incredible damage to our country.....now the question is what kind of evil could he do on the way out of the door? How many criminals could he pardon? Do we need to change that perk? Given that the President has unlimited power with executive orders and recess appointments during his term in office. Should that be changed? Frankly, does the executive office have too much power, given the abuses of power we have witnessed?
Frankly, I’m not trusting Americans to get rid of the guy.
They elected Clinton twice even in the midst of all the scandal. Plus, the Republican party may split, giving us a third party. I expect a real Oklahoma situation if they need it for him to be elected again.
I worry he will appoint himself to the Supreme Court.
Not a chance. Obama will go down in a blaze of glory. But he will go down. As would any other Democrat in 2012, and Clinton knows it.
Then he pardons all the prisoners. Not much we can do about it.
1. He can only pardon federal prisoners, not state.
2. He may be arrogant and have delusions of godhood, but he’s not an idiot. Not even Dennis Kucinich would think that pardoning ALL federal prisoners would be a good idea.
Executive orders can be cancelled by the next president. Congress isn't involved; separation of powers and all the rest.
NOPE. He will only pardon the BLACK prisoners as a final FU to "typical white people" America that he hates so much. Then the hunting season begins.
Could he do that? I mean, illegals haven’t been charged with anything so could he pardon someone who hasn’t even been convicted of a crime?
Sounds like an excellent reason to go hunting. Who could possibly object to putting down feral animals who attack humans with no justificstion?
Well, if Obama loses I bet Michelle cleans out the White House fridges and takes all the food back to Chicago with her. OH, I shouldn’t have said that. I am just being catty!!!
The president can give clemency in an immigration case.
Could he do that? I mean, illegals haven’t been charged with anything so could he pardon someone who hasn’t even been convicted of a crime?
See Ford-Nixon pardon
There are some answers here. To start with, the power to pardon only applies to federal prisoners, fortunately. And many such prisoners have entire federal bureaucracies that will “go to the mattresses” to keep them in prison.
As far as recess appointments go, the Republicans distrust Obama so much that they intend to keep the House of Representatives in (pro forma) session, which also forces the Senate to remain in session, specifically so that Obama will not be able to make any recess appointments for the rest of his term in office.
Executive Orders can be problematic, but they can be challenged by individual congressmen in court, and overturned. While the president may ignore orders by the Supreme Court (since Marbury v. Madison (1810)), this only applies to his personal actions. If he orders a subordinate to violate an order of the court, the Supremes may find that subordinate in contempt of court, which cannot by itself be pardoned by the president, since it is not a conviction. Even if he is sent to jail for six months to a year.
Perhaps the most troubling is the “Presidential Signing Statement”, a clearly unconstitutional act that is resulting in a slowly building constitutional crisis. After signing a bill passed by congress, the president adds a statement as to how he “interprets” the law (court function), and what parts he intends to enforce, and what parts he intends to ignore (legislative function). This needs to be ended permanently by an agreement between a conservative POTUS, the congress, and the SCOTUS.
More to the point, assuming a strong congressional Republican takeover in 2012, a LOT of federal agencies that have been running hog wild, like the EPA, the FCC, the USDA, the FDA, NASA and GISS, etc., must be brought to heel in a big sort of way. This amounts to firing many hundreds of thousands from the estimated 2.8 million non-military federal employees.
Not without a ghost writer he wouldn't .. hell, not without a ghost thinker for that matter.
It'd bring down the whole 'law background' charade/farce and subject the narcissistic demons to stresses they couldn't handle w/o the pøs coming totally unhinged.
(assuming that's not already the case)
/.02
He will be thrown in jail for BRIBERY, violating the RICO act.
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