It appears President Barack Obama has finally come to his wits end. He going to use Executive Order to implement further gun control or oversight, mainly in beefing up background checks and requirng more people to be licensed as gun dealers.
The president has been trying to get Congress to lead the way for such an increase since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in December of 2012 but GOP opposition, rational or not, has been a formidable adversary.
What makes the timing for such action interesting is that it's being pitched during a presidential election year, the final year of his presidency. Inasmuch as Mr. Obama was unable to rally any GOP support from the onset for his gun control campaign, it seems odd he didn't elect to use Executive Order from the beginning. Every effort over the last three years has been as successful, at best, as getting the KKK and the NAACP to agree on a common goal; and at worst, as getting the Earps and Clantons in Tombstone to agree to let bygones be bygones.Therefore, can Mr. Obama's decision to enact this particular Executive Order be viewed as a coincidence?
While the need for increased gun oversight has its merits and no real disadvantages are evident, there is a significant downside...implementation and enforcement. Therefore, I see the use of Executive Order more of a political tactic than a real chance of obtaining the desired results. Remember, an Executive Order is only valid under the president who ordered it. Thus, it must be hoped by Mr. Obama that a Democrat wins in November, thereby assuring the continuance of the E.O. if Congress doesn't act. And Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic front runner, shares Mr. Obama's views on the issue, as does Mr. Sanders.
Mr. Obama, therefore, is stumping for the Democratic Party as a whole with his desire to use Executive Order on such a controversial, divisive and highly personal issue for a growing number of people. It's an attempt to rally popular support; to show that Democrats are for increased safety and accountability where firearms sales and purchases are concerned while at the same time trying to paint the Republican Party as a soulless and callous "political" party that is willing to put "guns rights" ahead of safety...ahead of the deaths of one, two or three individuals or those slaughtered en masse, especially like those at Sandy Hook.
This tactic then can have an overlapping effect whereby Democratic Congressional seats can be gained by riding the coattails of a successful Democratic campaign for the presidency, allowing the Democrats to remain in the White House and build its presence in Congress, at least by retaking the Senate. And developing a strong Democratic presence in Congress is crucial to having Obamacare remain alive, if not well. Keep in mind that the Affordable Care Act was passed by Democrats; it was not a bipartisan effort. So, if the GOP maintains its hold on Capitol Hill, controlling both chambers, (and gains the White House), that contentious piece of legislation, Mr. Obama's "defining moment', will go down the drain at the hands of the GOP. They will have made good on their promise to destroy Obamacare.
So here's where the president's use of an Executive Order as a"stumping"tool becomes extremely significant. The Democratic Party has never won three consecutive presidential terms in recent history. Not since Franklin D. Roosevelt. The odds are against the Democrats. For the presidency and the Democratic Party as a whole, this is literally shaping up to be a "winner take all" election year.
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