Obama in 2008: The president can't change bills passed by Congress

Some pretty grand hypocrisy from the president on his Stupak executive order.

"Congress' job is to pass legislation. The president can veto it or he can sign it. But what George Bush has been trying to do as part of his effort to accumulate more power in the presidency is he's been saying, well I can basically change what Congress passed by attaching a letter saying, I don't agree with this part or I don't agree with that part, I'm going to choose to interpret it this way or that way. That's not part of his power. But this is part of the whole theory of George Bush that he can make laws as he goes along. I disagree with that."

The president was talking then about signing statements, documents issued by the president to clarify how bills passed by Congress would be interpreted. What Obama is doing -- using a deceptive executive order -- is even more egregious and hypocritical. For the record, Obama was right back then. The president cannot constitutionally change a law once it's been passed by Congress; he can only veto it. Signing statements and "clarifying" executive orders are technically unconstitutional. Either Obama knows that and doesn't care, or he never intended to issue an executive order in the first place and Stupak was duped.

Obama threw everything and the kitchen sink into getting health care reform passed, including bribes, special deals, unconstitutional procedural rules, and a meaningless executive order.