THE EVOLUTION of AMERICA'S 1ST DICTATOR--In Obama's Own Words

2014: "I am going to do what I can do through executive action."

03/31/08: Presidential candidate Barack Obama speaking at a town hall event in Pennsylvania:

"I take the Constitution very seriously. The biggest problems that we're facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all, and that's what I intend to reverse when I'm president of the United States of America."

03/28/11: President Obama speaking on Univision, an American Spanish language broadcast television network, whose programming is aimed at Hispanic and Latino Americans:

"The notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that's just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed." He continues. "There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system, that, for me to simply through executive order ignore those congressional mandates, would not conform with my appropriate role as President."

07/25/11: Speaking before the National Council of La Raza, (A Latino activist group): Here is an excerpt:

THE PRESIDENT: Now, I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own. (Applause) And believe me, right now dealing with Congress --

AUDIENCE: Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can!

THE PRESIDENT: Believe me -- believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting. (Laughter) I promise you. Not just on immigration reform. (Laughter) But that's not how -- that's not how our system works.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Change it!

THE PRESIDENT: That's not how our democracy functions. That's not how our Constitution is written.

09/28/11: During a White House roundtable meeting, "Open for Questions", sponsored by Yahoo Hispanol, President Obama made this statement. "This notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true." "I think there's been a great disservice done to the cause of getting a Dream Act passed and getting comprehensive immigration passed by perpetuating the notion that somehow by myself I can go and do these things. We have to pass bills through the legislature, and then I can sign it."

11/25/13: President Obama, while speaking in San Francisco, was interrupted by hecklers in the crowd concerning deportations. The following is a partial transcript from that speech:

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: "Stop deportations! Yes, we can! Stop deportations!"

THE PRESIDENT: "These guys don't need to go. Let me finish. No, no, no. He can stay there. Hold on a second. (Applause) Hold on a second. So I respect the passion of these young people because they feel deeply about the concerns for their families. Now, what you need to know, when I'm speaking as President of the United States and I come to this community, is, that if in fact, I could solve all these problems without passing laws in Congress, then I would do so. But we're also a nation of laws. That's part of our tradition. And so the easy way out is to try to yell and pretend like I can do something by violating our laws. And what I'm proposing is the harder path, which is to use our democratic processes to achieve the same goal that you want to achieve. But it won't be as easy as just shouting. It requires us lobbying and getting it done." (Applause)

In the year 2014, President Obama has done a 180.

11/09/14: While being interviewed on "Face the Nation", President Obama said, "I am going to do what I can do through executive action. It's not going to be everything that needs to get done. And it will take time to put that in place."

11/14/14: At a joint news conference in Burma, Obama said, "If in fact Congress failed to act, I would use all the lawful authority that I possess to try to make the system work better. And that's going to happen. That's going to happen before the end of the year."

POSTSCRIPT: Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School, was called before the House Judiciary Committee earlier this year to testify at a hearing entitled, "Enforcing the President's Constitutional Duty to Faithfully Execute the Laws." The following are excerpts from his testimony:

"As someone who voted for President Obama and agrees with many of his policies, it is often hard to separate the ends from the means of presidential action."

"To be clear, I do not view President Obama as a dictator, but I do view him as a danger in his aggregation of executive power. It is not his motives but his means that I question."

"We are now at the constitutional tipping point for our system. If balance is to be reestablished, it must begin before this President leaves office and that will likely require every possible means to reassert legislative authority. No one in our system can "go it alone" -- not Congress, not the courts, and not the President. We are stuck with each other in a system of shared powers--for better or worse. We may deadlock or even despise each other. The Framers clearly foresaw such periods. They lived in such a period. Whatever problems we are facing today in politics, they are problems of our own making. They should not be used to take from future generations a system that has safeguarded our freedoms for over 250 years."