President Barack Obama's plan to use executive action, "and not just wait for the legislation," to improve the economy is an example of the commander-in-chief's trying "to pick a fight," New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin says.
"It sort of comes out of the blue. In fact, Congress is working on a new budget, new spending bills. There has been a lot of cooperation, in part, because Obama stayed out of it, and it's very strange," Goodwin told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"It's almost like he's out picking a fight. He can't stand it when people get along and get things done without him. He's got to be the center of attention, he's got to be campaigning, he's got to be out there before the adoring crowds, ripping Republicans.
"And, of course, extending the arm of the imperial presidency in a way that the Democrats, eventually, are going to regret . . . At some point, a Republican president is going to inherent that new, greater powers of a presidency that Barack Obama pushed and the Democrats all plotted. So, the day of reckoning is coming," Goodwin said Tuesday.
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Goodwin says Robert Gates' new memoir,
"Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary of War," which has been criticized for spilling secrets about Obama and Hillary Clinton — in particular, that they admitted opposing troop surges in Iraq for political reasons — is an "important document."
"Gates is a special person in the history of the Pentagon and these two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan," Goodwin said.
"He had something to say, duty kept him from resigning, and he waited until after the election. The president's not on the ballot, I don't think he can be accused of any nefarious objective, any political objective.
"He owed the country a straight statement and a rendering of what he saw at the circus, and I commend him for doing it," Goodwin said.
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