Krauthammer On "Lawless" Obamacare Changes: "Now Reached A Point Where It's So Endemic That Nobody Even Complains"

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/02/10/krauthammer_on_lawless_obamacare_changes_now_reached_a_point_where_its_so_endemic_that_nobody_even_complains.html

BRET BAIER: But people looking at Washington from the outside they see this -- that this is always how it is. That it is always about the next election and figuring out how best to position whatever legislation until you get past the next election and then something gets through.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Generally speaking, you get past the next election by changing your policies, by announcing new initiatives, but not by wantonly changing the law lawlessly. This is stuff that you do in a banana republic. It's as if the law is simply a blackboard on which Obama writes any number he wants, any delay he wants and any provision.

It's now reached a point where it is so endemic that nobody even notices or complains. I think if the complaints had started with the first arbitrary changes, and these are are not adjustments or transitions. These are political decisions to minimize the impact leading up to an election, and it's changing the law in a way that you are not allowed to do.

RON FOURNIER: I didn't believe this is lawless. I certainly don't believe we are in a banana republic, but I do think this is why the president's approval ratings are below 40%, why only 12% of public has faith in Congress and why less than 20% of the public has any faith in government. This is incompetence at the very least --

KRAUTHAMMER: It's not incompetence.

FOURNIER: -- that really turns the public off.

KRAUTHAMMER: It's not incompetence, it's willful breaking of the constitutional order. Where in the constitution is a president allowed to alter a law 27 times after it's been passed?

FOURNIER: I think they would argue, and I'm not a constitutional attorney and certainly don't hold a doctorate, but I think they would argue this is a tax which is ironic -- they are arguing now it's a tax -- and under a tax the Treasury Secretary has wide authority to be able to bend regulations.