President Barack Obama has a new boast: "I can do whatever I want," he said this week as he toured Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's Charlottesville, Va., estate, with French President Francois Hollande.
Obama was referring to how he was able to "break the protocol" and view the grounds from a private terrace. "That's the good thing as a president, I can do whatever I want," he said Monday.
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The tongue-in-cheek remark came amid Republican criticism that Obama is overstepping his executive powers. Earlier Monday, the White House said that it was taking unilateral action to delay more of the employer mandates under Obamacare, notes
The Washington Times.
That move followed Obama's announcement Sunday that he was easing the
immigration rules on asylum seekers and refugees who gave "limited" support to terrorists.
And last month, he issued a Presidential Policy Directive, PPD-28, limiting searches of foreign signal intelligence in order to protect foreign privacy interests.
Obama said in his
State of the Union address that he planned to issue more executive directives in the future.
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