COMMENTARY | Through executive order, President Barack Obama will allow 10 states a pass on the deadline requirements set under No Child Left Behind, according to Fox News. This continues a stream of executive orders given by the president. As a political scientist, I see the president's actions suspicious when added with the fact of how the 2012 election is right around the corner. How many votes will he try to buy through his executive order ability?
In the summer and autumn, President Obama began passing an excessive number of executive orders. At the time, we were told these orders were made due to the slowness of Congress and the amount of issues our representatives had on their plate. Orders that continued certain review boards, created sanctions on Iran and Syria, changed the rules on how classified information was transferred and altered particular counterterrorism techniques were not directed at any specific group, so they did not gain much concern.
Since then the president has sent down orders that changed the way foreign visas are processed and one which changed the pay rate for some government employees. Now he is freeing 10 states from the requirements of No Child Left Behind. He is targeting specific groups or states instead of making sanctions easier or extending particular review boards. I read this as an attempt to reach out for votes.
President Obama is in an interesting position right now. The Supreme Court would be the only body that could review his executive orders to see if he is overreaching his bounds. Congress would not have any power under the Constitution against his orders unless one of them was an absolute illegal and impeachable action. There would probably not be enough time for the high court to review his orders before the election.
While technically not an abuse of power, it is something I would consider unethical. Billions of dollars will be spent to round up votes for President Obama and the finalized Republican nominee. The president's ability to pass executive orders gives him a marketing and publicity tool, which the Republican candidate will not be privy to. The traditional left-leaning media would not counter what the president does even if his orders become specific enough to show he is trying to buy votes through action. He might actually get away with it.
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