Regulation

At a Democratic fundraiser in Palo Alto, California, President Barack Obama described himself as a common sense Democrat.

"I remain hopeful, because I've run my last campaign, that over the next three years, we're going to see more of the bipartisan efforts that we're seeing in some areas.  For example, Michael Bennet is doing a great job working with the so-called Gang of Eight to finally get immigration reform done so that we're a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants, and we are fixing a broken immigration system.  So there are areas where we're starting to see glimmers of functionality in Washington," said Obama. 

"But on too many area, we're not getting the kind of cooperation that we need -- not because the Democrats are particularly ideological or left-wing right now.  The truth of the matter is Michael and I -- I know that there are a few Republicans here in the audience -- if you talk to us, it turns out we're pretty common-sense folks.  We don't think government can do everything.  We don't think that top-down solutions are the right way to go.  We believe in the free market.  We believe in a light touch when it comes to regulations.  We don't want to tax all businesses out of business.  But we do think that there's a role to play for government."

Obama also blamed Washington for the country's problems, saying the town he lives in is "broken."

"So the reason that Washington is a problem is not because government generically is the problem; the reason Washington is a problem is right now it's broken.  It's not working the way it needs to.  And, look, historically -- I am a strong Democrat because I believe in the basic principle that everybody should have a chance.  Everybody should have opportunity -- it doesn’t matter where they're born, what their last name is, what circumstances they started in, who they love.  I want everybody to have a fair shot.  But I'm the first one to admit Democrats don't have a monopoly on wisdom.  I will say, though, right now (laughter) -- when it comes to doing the things that need to get done, we're just not getting a lot of cooperation from the other side.  We're just not getting a lot of cooperation from the other side," said Obama, according to a transcript provided by the White House. 

As Adam White discusses in detail, there’s nothing moderate or incremental about the increase in federal regulations — and hence in centralized executive power — under President Obama.  To the contrary (as White notes), according to figures published by the Obama White House (see table 2-1), the costs of regulations issued by this administration have dwarfed the costs of regulations issued by prior administrations.

"Independent agencies" occupy an odd corner of American government. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, National Labor Relations Board, Federal Communications Commission, and others are nominally "independent" of the president's control—usually thanks to limits on the president's power to fire the agencies' leaders—and thus enjoy seemingly unlimited discretion to regulate American industry.