With a divided Congress that has indefinitely stopped his plan for the last three years, Obama, will no doubt, have a message for his fellow politicians at the State of the Union speech that he will deliver: “Fine, I’ll go it alone.”
This has been apparent for weeks now where the President has said, “I’ve got a pen and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward.”
With the House under the control of the Republicans and the Senate controlled by the Democrats, the President will continue to face this stalemate not unless the Democrats regain control of the House as well.
In fact, Jay Carney, the White House spokesperson has also reiterated that the President considers this year to be one of action, where he will either work with Congress of bypass to get what needs done.
That said, there are a number of ways the President can bypass Congress, and they are in appointing nominees to federal appeals courts as well as executive branch agencies, thanks to the elimination of filibusters by the Senate.
Considering what the President has said over the weeks, executive orders and directives to federal agencies will be made with the direction of the Interior Department to approve enough renewable energy capacity so as to power more than 6 million homes by 2020 being one such example.
Finally, with climate change on the agenda, Obama’s nominee for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will be watched as his fracking policy will have serious real-world consequences as a result.