“I’m tired of not getting my way, and I’m going to do what I want whether you like it or not.”

While Barack Obama may have signed fewer executive orders than any other US President since the 19th century, executive privilege seems to be the central theme of his 2014 State of the Union address.  For a leader whose coalition is evaporating, leaving him with fewer and fewer friends both at home and abroad, this is hardly surprising.  His healthcare reform programme is now regarded by most voters as a failure, having left more American citizens uninsured than there were to begin with.  His aggressive expansion of the drone war started by his predecessor has earned the enmity of countless foreign nations, and left the United States isolated.  His global surveillance project, blown out of the water by whistle blowers, has opened a rift between the United States and its allies in Europe, and will have serious consequences for international cooperation in the future.  After all this, the White House has lost steam, and the President’s ratings have plummeted.  Now that he has unveiled his roadmap for the second half of his term, it has become abundantly clear that it will be just as disappointing as the first.

In this excellent State of the Union response video, the scholars of the Cato Institute deconstruct the President’s agenda point for point, articulating a strong and coherent case for a freer market and a freer society.  As the President seeks to assert his dwindling authority over successively broader and broader issues, libertarians must check his every advance.  Barack Obama has made it clear that he intends to push the boundaries of constitutional governance in his remaining time in office, and it is up to us to stop him.

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Thanks to the Cato Institute for this featured video