President Clinton started off with a hard left agenda, but after the resounding Congressional losses in 1994, he moved to a much more centrist position, working with Dole and Gingrich on free trade and welfare reform. With a similar prospect facing Democrats this November, will Obama also move towards the center? While it is possible, —one never knows for sure— it is unlikely. Unlike Clinton, Obama has no basis for governing other than ideological dogma. It’s the only game he knows. Moreover, the executive branch has been given so much power to make its own laws there is no compelling need for Congress to act to advance his agenda.

A few years ago, the president of the ACLU lamented a rightward turn by the Supreme Court with the appointments of Justices Alito and Roberts. It was so bad, she said, that it would probably be necessary to revert to Congress to advance their leftist agenda. This might mean, gasp, winning voter approval on issues like gay marriage. How could such a horrible fate have beset the nation? She got her wish, and Obama won with a supportive Congress.

As Speaker Pelosi candidly admitted, we won’t know what is in health care until it is implemented. The legislation only manages to outline a massive bureaucracy in it’s 2000+ pages. In one draft the legislation set up 111 new federal agencies and boards to make all the detailed decisions, but I’ve heard it ended up with 129. One panel will direct cost savings. Will they impose rationing? Along with much else, we don’t know.

The Environmental Protection Agency claims the authority to regulate carbon dioxide, and the courts of upheld that claim as consistent with the legislation that empowers them. Humans exhale carbon dioxide with every breath, never mind automobiles and factories. Water vapor is a more significant greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Imagine the potential for government control in that.

Financial “reform” legislation places great regulatory power in new federal agencies. As with health care, we will have to enact it to see what it means. It may give government the power to take over any financial institution it judges to be at risk. Will the threat of takeover force banks and others to conform to a leftist agenda?

Obama could not get union card check legislation through Congress. Card check would allow Vinnie to put his arm around you and gently suggest you sign the card in favor of unionization as he watches. Obama could also not get union lawyer Craig Becker confirmed as the head of the Labor Relations Board, so Becker could then slant decisions in favor of unions. So Obama made a recess appointment of Becker. Becker claims he can implement card check by bureaucratic decree without the the legislation. The Department of Justice will then defend that at public expense.

Laws? Who needs laws?

Executive branch power can be augmented by selective enforcement to reward friends and punish enemies. This is the explicit tactic, long espoused by Reid and Pelosi, for achieving amnesty for illegal immigrants. Congress passed laws requiring immigration quotas. By letting illegal immigrants flood Arizona and border states, the Administration hopes to torture opponents into submission. This tactic hasn’t succeeded on immigration yet, but it has potential in other areas.

For example, there are many ways to harass business through either non-enforcement of laws or vigorous enforcement. Non-enforcement can provide an advantage to one industry over another. The principle is to offer a deal, “We cannot get Congress to require x, but if you comply voluntarily then we will be able to stop doing y.” There are offers that cannot be refused.

Don’t expect loss of Congress to slow down implementation of a leftist agenda. There are ways other than laws.