As President Barack Obama dictates his immigration decree on Thursday night, Republicans from all different sides of the party are responding by calling him “king” or “emperor” or some variant of those tyrant-sounding terms.
“If ‘Emperor Obama’ ignores the American people and announces an amnesty plan that he himself has said over and over again exceeds his Constitutional authority, he will cement his legacy of lawlessness and ruin the chances for Congressional action on this issue – and many others,” House Speaker John Boehner’s spokesman Michael Steel said in an email to reporters this week.
Incoming Senate Budget Committee chairman Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said in a statement this week that Obama is now “Emperor Of The United States:”
President Obama previously said he could not issue an executive amnesty because ‘I’m the President of the United States, I’m not the emperor of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed. Well, apparently we now have an ‘Emperor of the United States.’ President Obama’s immigration order would provide illegal immigrants with the exact benefits Congress has repeatedly rejected: Social Security numbers, photo IDs and work permits–which will allow them to now take jobs directly from struggling Americans in every occupation. Congress must not allow this unconstitutional action. That means Congress should fund the government while ensuring that no funds can be spent on this unlawful purpose.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Thursday took to the U.S. Senate floor to rip into Obama’s coming decree by citing Cicero, the Roman Senator who fought the encroaching empire that took Democracy in the ancient Republic.
“When, President Obama, do you mean to cease abusing our patience?” Cruz adapted Cicero’s famous warning to Rome’s citizens against the Cataline conspiracy:
How long is that madness of yours still to mock us? When is there to be an end of that unbridled audacity of yours, swaggering about as it does now. Do not the nightly guards placed on the Border–do not the watches posted throughout the city–does not the alarm of the people, and the union of all good men–does not the precaution taken of assembling the Senate in this most defensible place–do not the looks and countenances of this venerable body here present, have any effect upon you? Do you not feel that your plans are detected?
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who alongside Cruz passed legislation through the House of Representatives before the August recess before the midterm elections blocking funding for the implementation of this executive amnesty–something the Senate rejected–called Obama “King.”
“President Obama’s relentless assault on the Constitution will be his legacy,” Blackburn, who pledged that Republicans will fight and beat Obama’s executive amnesty, said in a statement. “His actions have established a new precedent for Executive behavior that will have repercussions for years to come. Soon we will no longer need the legislators or the courts. King Obama will make the law, interpret the law, and if he so chooses, enforce the law. His ‘ends justify the means’ approach is exactly the type of Executive mentality our system of government was designed to discourage.”
Even Karl Rove, a staunch proponent of amnesty for illegal aliens, said the way Obama is doing this is like a king. “We are not a monarchy, we are not an empire where the president sits on some throne in Washington, D.C.,” Rove said on Fox News on Thursday night.