# The President can rule by decree. WTF??? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 31, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297 "2007-01-31T18:38:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297/221 "2007-02-04T02:26:02Z")
[QUOTE=El Cid Viscoso] It is likely that once his programs are fleeced and start to fail, his first action will be to excise a drain on the economy, specifically among the 800,000 indigenous people in Venezuela. [/QUOTE] Exactly what in Chavez’ record suggest any anti-Indian prejudice? Quite the contrary, ISTM. If they’re the poorest of the poor, they’re the people he’s supposedly in it to help. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297/222 "2007-02-04T02:29:46Z")
[QUOTE=pantom] BTW, it doesn’t do much for your cause to continue to cause trouble right into the new guy’s new term. Just for future reference… [/QUOTE] Why not? It’s exactly what Al Gore should have done in 2000-2001. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297/223 "2007-02-04T02:31:06Z")
[QUOTE=El Cid Viscoso] Two words: Salazar Salazar. [/QUOTE] [Who?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salazar) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297/224 "2007-02-04T02:48:38Z")
[QUOTE=El Cid Viscoso] One day soon Pres Chávez will be cornholed by Chevron. They’ll be gentle and lube him up with light sweet crude and he’ll become another oil company whore until he either caves or we hang him. Simple fact. [/QUOTE] How do you see that happening? Venezuela already owns [Citgo.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citgo) Why do they need to deal with Chevron at all? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297/225 "2007-02-04T03:39:28Z")
[QUOTE=El Cid Viscoso] The devil of it (and it’s probably what pisses you off the most) is that without the pressure of Americans like me, Lopez-Obrador would be a puppy piñata. Once our eyes are off him, he’ll go down faster than Gomer Pyle on Liberty. [/QUOTE] Exactly what pressure are any Americans exerting in Lopez Obrador’s behalf? I haven’t heard of any. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297/226 "2007-02-04T05:14:21Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Why not? It’s exactly what Al Gore should have done in 2000-2001. [/QUOTE] To what purpose? Rightly or wrongly, the Supreme Court quashed any further legal action. What would it have possibly accomplished Gore to continue to fight? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297/227 "2007-02-04T06:15:53Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] To what purpose? Rightly or wrongly, the Supreme Court quashed any further legal action. What would it have possibly accomplished Gore to continue to fight? [/QUOTE] It would have diminished the perceived legitimacy and electoral mandate of the Bush Admin, which would have been good for the country, and nothing but. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297/228 "2007-02-04T06:16:30Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] To what purpose? Rightly or wrongly, the Supreme Court quashed any further legal action. What would it have possibly accomplished Gore to continue to fight? [/QUOTE] Well, IMO you are correct that in the end Bush was going to be president, but I do think the nation is poor by not getting on the record the discussion that should had occurred in congress if a senator had signed to the objections to the election outcome in Florida by several democratic representatives, no Senator would sign the objections since then Sen. Minority Leader Tom Daschle previously advised Democratic senators not to cooperate. IMO there was a need then to tell Bush early that cooperation to a president that did not had the majority of the people’s support on top of getting in with a dubious decision, was not going to be easy. Remembering that in a previous and similarly contested election the losing party got a lot of concessions from the resulting compromise in exchange for stopping the challenges to the contested election (Florida again!) I have to say good riddance to Daschle for getting nothing in exchange by not fighting. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297/229 "2007-02-04T06:44:41Z")
I forgot about one result of the fight: As a result of the bitter fight and the negotiations to break the constitutional impasse caused by the motions in congress and the electoral commission, Rutherford B. Hayes made the pledge to be a one term president so as to calm the spirits of the opposition, and he made good on that pledge. I don’t know if Bush would had made the same pledge, but because no fight did come from the Democrats in congress in 2000, we will never know. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297/230 "2007-02-05T18:58:04Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] I forgot about one result of the fight: As a result of the bitter fight and the negotiations to break the constitutional impasse caused by the motions in congress and the electoral commission, Rutherford B. Hayes made the pledge to be a one term president so as to calm the spirits of the opposition, and he made good on that pledge. I don’t know if Bush would had made the same pledge, but because no fight did come from the Democrats in congress in 2000, we will never know. [/QUOTE] I’m trying to imagine W making a pledge like that . . . and I’m not seeing any pictures . . . Far easier to imagine how the proposal would have been spun on Fox. ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297/231 "2007-02-06T02:40:02Z")
**BG** : a) Have a drink. You post too much. b) I don’t care if the prez is socialist; my objection is to whether he’s a militarist or not. I honestly have no idea if I would vote for Lula at all, but I know for certain that I would never vote for Chavez. It was obvious the kind of demagogue he was from day one. He proves it more and more every day with the things he does and the crazy nonsense he says. It may play well to the ignorant and the gullible, but that’s hardly a recommendation. He’s nothing but a left-wing version of Dubya. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297/232 "2007-02-06T06:32:54Z")
[QUOTE=pantom] **BG** : a) Have a drink. You post too much. [/quote] Addiction is an illness. ☹ [QUOTE=pantom] I honestly have no idea if I would vote for Lula at all, but I know for certain that I would never vote for Chavez. It was obvious the kind of demagogue he was from day one. He proves it more and more every day with the things he does and the crazy nonsense he says. It may play well to the ignorant and the gullible, but that’s hardly a recommendation. He’s nothing but a left-wing version of Dubya. [/QUOTE] I certainly agree with you WRT his comments on **cultural** issues, such as his irrational hostility to such foreign influences as Halloween and American music. But, one thing is certain about Chavez, at this point: He has consolidated his power to the point where, if his policies should fail, he cannot **plausibly** blame anybody else. (Not that that will stop him from trying, should his policies fail.) He has real enemies, to be sure, who would eagerly torpedo him even if that were a bad thing for Venezuela; but he has effectively rendered all of them impotent, and that includes the U.S. Nobody is going to pull a Pinochet on **him,** not after the last attempt. As for the economic, political and social effects of his “Bolivarian Revolution,” we shall see what we shall see. Personally, I believe we shall see something worth imitating here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-can-rule-by-decree-wtf/390297.md?page=11)