His "recess" appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau not only ignores the Constitution but Dodd-Frank as well, which created the CFPB. The Senate is not in recess. Granted, Republicans are gaveling the Senate into session every three days for the express purpose of preventing Obama from making these recess appointments, but this is a strategy that Democrats have employed in the past as well. It may be unseemly, but that's the way they do things in the dysfunctional world of Washington. The fact is that the Senate is not in recess, ergo, Obama cannot make a recess appointment. But he doesn't care. He will just do as he pleases, Constitution be damned.
Even if one were to forgive him this transgression, there is the problem of the language in Dodd-Frank. It specifically states that the director of the CFPB shall not assume authority until confirmed by the Senate. Perhaps it was an oversight by the staffers who wrote the bill, but the end result is that language forbids the use of a recess appointment, which by defintion is not confirmed by the Senate.
Obama is defending his action by proclaiming that he won't let Congress stand in the way of doing what he believes is right for American consumers. He neglected to mention that he won't let the Constitution, or the Act itself, stand in the way of what he wants. His ends apparently justify any means.
For anyone who may believe that George Bush conducted an imperious presidency, I have a question: Is it abhorrent when Bush does it but acceptable when Obama does it?
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