Obama's Economic Policies Skirt Abuse of Power

It’s easy for President Obama to be a bold leader, given his administration's “careless regard for constitutional values” and burgeoning “tincture of lawlessness,” writes George Will in the Washington Post. Obama is pursuing a dependency agenda, he argues, “maximizing the number of people and institutions dependent on the federal government.” He recently threatened to withhold California’s stimulus money, for example, if the state didn’t reinstate a costly, corrupt program to care for the elderly.

The administration has demanded that Chrysler’s secure creditors take 23 cents on the dollar, and never mind the contracts that say they outrank the labor unions. Contracts are nothing to Obama. The TARP and stimulus haven’t been used for their stated purposes; they’re just slush funds Obama can lavish on his political favorites. “The administration’s central activity—the political allocation of wealth and opportunity—is not merely susceptible to corruption,” Will argues, “it is corruption.” (More George Will stories.)