State Of The Union 2014: Populist Obama Grabs The Reins

Back in late 2008 when President Obama was transitioning into the White House, I wondered out loud how long it would be before Republicans began to hector him about abusing executive power. It’d be especially ironic given how they didn’t say a damn thing about the previous administration’s abuses. But it only took a couple of days for that prediction to come true as the congressional Republicans and talk radio began to confusingly accuse President Obama of being the next Stalin, Hitler and Mao.

Tuesday night, however, this “Dictator Obama” myth reached new heights when word got out that the president would be ramping up his efforts to pursue his agenda with or without the help of Congress, including his clearly totalitarian decision to raise the minimum wage for new government contractors to $10.10 (that’s an annual pre-tax salary of $21,008 per year, by the way, and hardly enough to make ends meet).

Alex Jones, during his State of the Union coverage, repeatedly referred to the president as “Der Führer” and compared the speech to Emperor Palpatine’s speech in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, going so far as to quote the on-the-nose Natalie Portman line, “This is how democracy dies, with thunderous applause.” He also posted the following graphic as the logo for his coverage.

Elsewhere, Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) tweeted, “On floor of house waitin on “Kommandant-In-Chef”… the Socialistic dictator who’s been feeding US a line or is it ‘A-Lying?'” See what he did there? Line sounds like “lying.”

And so when the president said, “…wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do,” you could hear heads exploding from Alex Jones’ radio studio to Rush Limbaugh’s walk-in en suite medicine cabinet.

Yes, the president does indeed plan to sign executive orders to move his agenda on everything from the minimum wage to sensible gun control. But he also went out of his way to ask Congress to work with him, punctuating the speech with language like “we need to work together,” “bipartisan” and “send [the legislation] to my desk.”

Even if he hadn’t, the truth is this president has signed the fewest number of executive orders since the second Grover Cleveland administration. 168 so far. No wait, correction — George H.W. Bush signed two fewer orders in one term. Ronald Reagan, on the other hand, signed 381. George W. Bush signed 291. Jimmy Carter, in his one term, signed 320.

Dictator? No. Math doesn’t lie.

What about the rest of the speech?… [CONTINUE READING HERE]

By: Bob Cesca

Bob Cesca is the managing editor at The Daily Banter (www.thedailybanter.com) and a Huffington Post contributor since 2005. He's worked in journalism since 1988 as a print writer/editor, a radio news anchor, a digital media columnist/editor, a book author and blogger. He's the co-host of the Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show podcast and a Thursday regular on the syndicated Stephanie Miller Show. He's appeared on numerous other radio shows including the John Phillips Show and Geraldo Rivera Show in Los Angeles. Bob has been a commentator/analyst on the BBC (TV and radio), MSNBC, Current TV, CNN and Sky News. Following him on Twitter: @bobcesca_go