During a Tuesday evening speech, President Barack Obama admitted he violated Article I of the U.S. Constitution which provides, “All legislative [i.e. lawmaking] powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”
The Chicago address, centering on his recent executive action granting legal status to an estimated five million undocumented immigrants, proved to be no homecoming for the president when hecklers repeatedly forced him to go off script.
After listening to the their complaints about deportations, Obama finally said:
Listen, you know — here. Can I just say this, all right? I’ve listened to you. I heard you. I heard you. I heard you. All right?
Now I have been respectful, I let you holler. All right? So let me just — nobody is removing you. I have heard you, but you have got to listen to me, too. All right? And I understand you may disagree, I understand you may disagree. But we have got to be able to talk honestly about these issues, all right?
Then he threw out an admission that the White House has repeatedly denied — that the president’s executive order changed existing immigration law.
“What you’re not paying attention to is that I just took an action to change the law,” he said, giving fuel to Republican complaints.
Watch the exchange in the following video. Story continues after clip.
Social media lit up after this statement, beginning with this tweet from The Weekly Standard senior writer Mark Hemingway:
Our constitutional law professor-in-chief: “Obama Admits: ‘I Just Took an Action to Change the Law’” http://t.co/fGbO3ztOjh
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) November 26, 2014
Then there were these observations, as Twitchy recorded:
Obama 2012: I can’t change the law Obama last week: I’m not changing the law Obama now: I just changed the law Media: *seal clap*
— AG (@AG_Conservative) November 26, 2014
.@Heminator White cop upholding the law doesn’t get indicted; Left goes nuts. Black president disregarding the law indicts himself: Crickets
— Larousse Trebek (@effinziti) November 26, 2014
@RightGlockMom @AG_Conservative That’s how Emperors roll.
— ★♥ Harriet Baldwin (@HarrietBaldwin) November 26, 2014
The president has proved to be one of the most talented political orators in recent history — until he goes off script. It’s at those moments when he ignores the teleprompter that he gets into trouble. Tuesday night in Chicago was one of those.
