I told you so, or the words of a would-be dictator

I was no supporter of the presidential campaign of then-Senator Obama, for a great many reasons.  Repeatedly I was aksed why I did not support his campaign and I offered many reasons why, not the least of which was that we had seen leaders who rose quickly through the ranks sheerly by their charisma throughout history before, and it rarely ended well.

I pointed out the various difficulties with his experience or lack thereof, with his personality and friendships, and with the direction he said he wanted to take this country, but in the end I settled on the simple and proven example of history.

With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare), one of my former students asked me if it was to time to say, "I told you so."  I answered, "Not yet."

Yesterday when commenting on his decision to appoint Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the circumstances of the appointment are, quite frankly, irrelevant), President Obama said (with my emphases):

When Congress refuses to act, and as a result, hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, then I have an obligation as President to do what I can without them. I’ve got an obligation to act on behalf of the American people. And I’m not going to stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of the people that we were elected to serve.

Those, my friends, are the words of a would-be dictator.  A President does not act alone.

And so, now the time has come: I told you so.