This Obama administration’s caution about using presidential power unilaterally will likely change after the expected surge in republican congressional numbers following the midterm elections. Glenn Thrush speculated in POLITICO earlier this month that the administration “may have to be re-stocked with staffers who know how to leverage executive power in the face of a newly emboldened congressional GOP.” And Scott Wilson recently noted in the Washington Post that “the president could . . . choose to use – or threaten to use – his executive powers to get some of what he wants done without seeking congressional approval.”
The increased reliance on presidential power will likely take several forms.
One will be to ramp up policymaking by the administrative bureaucracy through executive orders and related executive directives.
