After November 8, Obama unleashed
Once elections are done, whoever wins, there will be nothing to keep Obama from poking his finger into the eyes of detractors and cementing his legacy as the only anti-American president to occupy the Oval Office. Three likely scenarios among many:
Guantanamo Bay
In a treaty signed in 1903 and ratified again in 1934, Cuba agreed to perpetually lease the area to the U.S. Only by mutual consent can this arrangement be terminated. Once remaining detainees are dispersed, could the president “normalize” relations with Cuba by ignoring Congress and signing an executive order abrogating the treaty? Some constitutional lawyers claim he can, though such an action might provoke a constitutional crisis, which Obama would relish.
However, there’s another, simpler way to the same end. From Article III of the treaty: “So long as the United States of America shall not abandon [my italics] the said naval station of Guantanamo or the two Governments shall not agree to a modification of its present limits, the station shall continue to have the territorial area that it now has.” Who’s going to stop the commander-in-chief from simply ordering the evacuation of all personnel from the base by Inauguration Day?
The Blind Sheikh
Tied to conspirators planning to bomb high-profile targets in New York City in 1993 (including the WTC), Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman was arrested, convicted of “seditious conspiracy” in 1995, and subsequently sentenced to life without parole. His imprisonment has become a rallying point for various groups seeking his release.
Ostensibly for humanitarian purposes, Obama may well commute the Sheikh’s sentence before he leaves office. The real reasons would be to show solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood and to flip a bird at National Review’s Andrew McCarthy, who headed the prosecution’s team in Sheikh Abdel Rahman’s trial.
Bears Ears National Monument
President Obama is poised to use his unilateral authority to “protect” (read: make inaccessible) approximately 1.8 million acres of federal land in Utah, a state for which the president feels contempt. Of course, Romney payback is a factor, too.
Steve Grammatico is the author of You Hear Me, Barack? PC-Free Conservative Satire. He blogs at youhearmebarack.blogspot.com.