Candidate Obama v. President Obama on Signing Statements

“We’re not going to use signing statements as a way of doing an end-run around Congress.”  That was then-presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008 pledging to not issue signing statements as qualifiers to bills Congress passes.  But over the weekend, now-President Obama issued his own signing statement to object to Congress eliminating certain czars and banning the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo to the United States or to foreign countries.

As president, Obama is doing the exact same thing he criticized President George W. Bush for just a few years ago.

Here’s a further reminder of what 2008 candidate Obama said, “Congress’s job is to pass legislation. The president can veto it, or he can sign it. But what George Bush has been trying to do as part of his effort to accumulate more power in the presidency, is he’s been saying ‘Well, I can basically change what Congress passed by attaching a letter saying, I don’t agree with this part, or I don’t agree with that part. I’m going to choose to interpret it this way or that way.'”

Just another example of President Obama breaking his campaign promises and adopting the policies of his predecessor.

President Obama has been learning the hard way that leadership and governing is a lot harder than criticizing and campaigning against the status quo.  Now President Obama represents the status quo.  What will Obama do when he doesn’t have Bush to kick around anymore in the 2012 campaign?