With just a few months before the start of the presidential campaign, Barack Obama is doing his best to set himself apart from the disagreement in the Congress and show Americans he is trying to make a change. The president’s recent move is having Richard Cordray appointed as consumer watchdog.
This year’s presidential election will be extremely aggressive, particularly seeing as president in-state Obama is challenging Republicans every chance he gets. One of his most recent moves is appointing Richard Cordray as consumer watchdog, a decision which fully defies the Republican opposition.
Basically, Obama appointed Richard Cordray as director of a new consumer protection agency and filled three labor board vacancies without Senate approval under the constitutional provision for making appointments when lawmakers are in recess.
The President stated he’s not taking no for an answer in front of 1,300 people at a high school in Cleveland. “I am not going to stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of the people we were elected to serve”.
Obviously, Republicans did not lose the opportunity to dismiss Obama’s leadership and accuse him of taking unconstitutional decisions. House Speaker John A. Boehner, member of the Republican Party, said: “This is an extraordinary and entirely unprecedented power grab by President Obama that defies centuries of practice and the legal advice of his own Justice Department”.
Boehner also added that “the precedent that would be set by this cavalier action would have a devastating effect on the check and the balances that are enshrined in our Constitution”.
Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, warns that “by opening this door, the White House is saying it can appoint any person at any time to any position it chooses without the advice and consent of the Senate. This is not how our republic was designed to function”.
However, as unheard as Obama’s move might be, he succeeded in doing something that two consecutive administrations couldn’t. NYTimes writes that Republicans had attempted to block the president from installing nominees they opposed over the long break by holding “pro forma” sessions over the holidays. Then Senate Democrats had taken similar steps to block President George W. Bush from making what are known as recess appointments. Until Wednesday, the tactic had prevented two administrations from putting their choices in place without Senate confirmation.
