I find it hard to care how strongly the Republicans hate Obama.
The recent Netanyahu fiasco and the letter to undermine the treaty negotiations with Iran mainly show why Congress can never rule without a President. Nothing at all would get done if we had to wait on Congress.
The pattern then is this: Congress refuses to act, President acts. Congress gets mad. Congress refuses to act. Repeat.
The history of how a Republican Congress has dealt with our immigrant population, or refused to do so, is disgraceful. So the president needs to act and the Executive Order is how he acts.
Just as the President needs to negotiate treaties. It seems ridiculous to me that Republicans believe they need to explain our Constitution to Iran in a letter. Ever heard of the Wiki? They know our constitution as well as we know theirs. Do we need a letter from their Majlis to explain their system?
So the point of the letter is purely and absolutely political. These Republicans are counting on hatred of Obama for their votes next election. This is their strategy: Obstruct any progress and blame Obama for anything that happens. Loudly. It may very well work for them, but I find it hard to care.
On the off chance that someone thinks that the President should be able to negotiate treaties, as it clearly says in the Constitution, but maybe Obama has too much power when it comes to Executive Orders, just listing the most recent orders show how necessary this sort of political action is to govern our nation.
Imagine if we had to wait for Congress to do any of this:
13674 Revised List of Quarantinable Communicable Diseases 2014-07-31
13675 Establishing the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa 2014-08-05
13676 Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria 2014-09-18
13677 Climate-Resilient International Development 2014-09-23
13678 Conversion Authority for Criminal Investigators (Special Agents) of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives 2014-10-03
13679 Establishing an Emergency Board to Investigate a Dispute Between the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and Its Locomotive Engineers Represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen 2014-10-10
13680 Ordering the Selected Reserve and Certain Individual Ready Reserve Members of the Armed Forces to Active Duty 2014-10-16
13681 Improving the Security of Consumer Financial Transactions 2014-10-17
13682 Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on Friday, December 26, 2014 2014-12-05
13683 Further Amendments to Executive Order 11030, Executive Order 13653, and Executive Order 13673 2014-12-11
13684 Establishment of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 2014-12-18
13685 Blocking Property of Certain Persons and Prohibiting Certain Transactions With Respect to the Crimea Region of Ukraine 2014-12-19
13686 Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay 2014-12-19
13687 Imposing Additional Sanctions with Respect to North Korea 2015-01-02
13688 Federal Support for Local Law Enforcement Equipment Acquisition 2015-01-16
13689 Enhancing Coordination of National Efforts in the Arctic 2015-01-21
13690 Establishing a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard and a Process for Further Soliciting and Considering Stakeholder Input