Podesta: Obama Can Use ‘Armed Forces’ to Push Progressive Agenda (WTF?!?)

The liberal Center for American Progress doesn’t believe significant GOP gains in the House and Senate should stop the President from implementing more of his polices. The group released a report Tuesday suggesting ways Obama can bypass Congress to accomplish a progressive agenda, and it cites the president’s power as commander-in-chief to make its point.

“I think most of the conversation since the election has been about how President Obama adjusts to the new situation on Capitol Hill,” Center for American Progress head and former Bill Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta told the Daily Caller. “While that’s an important conversation, it simply ignores the president’s ability to use all levels of his power and authority to move the country forward.”

How does one “move the country forward”? In the center’s report, Podesta explains that Obama can use executive orders, rulemaking, and even the armed forces “to accomplish important change” and that such means “should not be underestimated.”

What exactly does Podesta think the president should use such powers to “accomplish”? Among others, the report suggests “job creation,“ ”quality affordable health care,“ ”sustainable security,“ and ”a clean energy future.”

The report cites specific goals such as mitigating the effects of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, supporting a Palestinian state, and reducing greenhouse gasses by 17 percent by 2020.

“The U.S. Constitution and the laws of our nation grant the president significant authority to make and implement policy,” Podesta writes. ”Congressional gridlock does not mean the federal government stands still.”

In the aftermath of this month’s midterm congressional elections, pundits and politicians across the ideological spectrum are focusing on how difficult it will be for President Barack Obama to advance his policy priorities through Congress. Predictions of stalemate abound. And some debate whether the administration should tack to the left or to the center and compromise with or confront the new House leadership.

As a former White House chief of staff, I believe those to be the wrong preoccupations. President Obama’s ability to govern the country as chief executive presents an opportunity to demonstrate strength, resolve, and a capacity to get things done on a host of pressing challenges of importance to the public and our economy. Progress, not positioning, is what the public wants and deserves.

The U.S. Constitution and the laws of our nation grant the president significant authority to make and implement policy. These authorities can be used to ensure positive progress on many of the key issues facing the country through:

* Executive orders * Rulemaking * Agency management * Convening and creating public-private partnerships * Commanding the armed forces * Diplomacy

The ability of President Obama to accomplish important change through these powers should not be underestimated. President Bush, for example, faced a divided Congress throughout most of his term in office, yet few can doubt his ability to craft a unique and deeply conservative agenda using every aspect of the policymaking apparatus at his disposal. And, after his party lost control of Congress in 1994, President Clinton used executive authority and convening power to make significant progressive change. For instance, he protected more great spaces in the lower 48 states than any president since Theodore Roosevelt, established for the first time significant protections for Americans’ medical privacy, and urged the creation of the Welfare-to-Work Partnership that enlisted the help of 20,000 businesses in moving more than 1 million welfare recipients into the workforce.

The upshot: Congressional gridlock does not mean the federal government stands still. This administration has a similar opportunity to use available executive authorities while also working with Congress where possible. At the Center for American Progress, we look forward to our nation continuing to make progress.

Print: Megan Smith (health care, education, economic policy) 202.741.6346 or msmith@americanprogress.org

Print: Anna Soellner (foreign policy and security, energy) asoellner@americanprogress.org

Print: Raúl Arce-Contreras (ethnic media, immigration) 202.478.5318 or rarcecontreras@americanprogress.org

Web: Erin Lindsay 202.741.6397 or elindsay@americanprogress.org http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/11/executive_orders.html/#statement

Thanks Daisy Mae. Somebody tried to paint me as crazy not too long ago based on a comment I had made saying that I don’t know what time it is. I don’t know how close we are to the end of the world and all that comes with that.

I haven’t gotten real involved in various interpretations of Revelation but have tried to understand the overarching themes that are clear to about everybody, and the thing that stands out is the role of economics in controlling people and getting them to worship the beast.

So I believe that is going to happen sometime. Right now it’s looking like it could be very soon.

And if it does it will be OK, sort of like the pain of labor being OK because that’s what it takes to get to birth. God knows whether this is labor, false labor, or just gas in the stomach. lol. And whatever it is will be fine, because - as you say - tomorrow is already taken care of. We know who wins in the end. There has to be a Good Friday before there’s a Resurrection Sunday. So if it’s Friday morning before the crucifixion, or Maundy Thursday when the betrayal leading to the crucifixion takes place, or if it’s a year ahead of any of those events doesn’t really matter; God will take care of that.

I do believe that we are to be salt and light as long as we can, and that includes the preservative effect of our faith and life - which includes an insistence on the truth, justice, and the rule of law for the benefit of all.

I think about one of the main ideas presented in “Facing the Giants”: “I’m gonna give God everything I’ve got and leave the results up to Him.”

That’s my aim, and it’s good to be reminded - as my husband keeps reminding me - that I don’t need to worry about the results because that’s God’s department, not mine. I think I tend to look at results as validation of whether I’m doing a good job, but mostly I just pray that God would accomplish what He wants in spite of me, and ask Him to please help me not botch it up too bad.

And with that, I WILL go sleep well, like you said. Like Jesus slept in the storm, knowing it was going to be OK. And you also sleep well, Daisy Mae! =)

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