Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said President Obama has crossed the constitutional line when it comes to his use of executive orders and has now entered a realm normally reserved for tyrants.
“If it’s not tyranny, I don’t know what it is,” Mr. DeLay told The Blaze. “But this president is violating his oath of office. He’s abusing his power. The president of the United States, I don’t know where he gets the notion that he can legislate, change legislation, decide what law he’ll enforce and not enforce — this is all violating the Constitution of the United States and probably many statutes.”
Mr. Obama has used executive orders to change Obamacare mandates, crack down on the Second Amendment, impose new carbon emission limits that couldn’t pass through Congress and amend immigration rules rejected by lawmakers.
Mr. DeLay didn’t call for legal action against Mr. Obama, but argued that if Mr. Obama were Republican, his record and actions would receive far more scrutiny and negative reporting.
“The use of government to oppress his enemies — the IRS scandal, Benghazi, they’re abusing the employees of the federal government that were there in Benghazi as we speak — if a Republican had done this, the national media would be calling for impeachment and drive him out of office,” Mr. DeLay told The Blaze. “It’s just unbelievable and scary who this president thinks he is and the tyranny that he is beginning to inflict on the American people.”
Mr. DeLay, who served under the George W. Bush administration, faced national outrage from within his own party about the massive growth of government. He was found guilty in 2010 of money laundering in a Texas campaign finance violation controversy, though the conviction was ultimately overturned.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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