re: #5 Hal_10000

The amazing thing is that you don’t have to make up stories to get mad at the Park Service. They are closing open air memorials that have no business being closed — expending resources to keep people out. They even shut down the Skyline Drive again, which is completely unnecessary.

But this is not specific to Obama. Gail Norton, Bush’s former Interior Secretary, pointed out that the Park Service has a long history of doing this: trying to maximize inconvenience when their budget is in question. They did it under Bush. They did it under Clinton. Under Reagan, they shut down the skyline drive because the appropriations committee was talking about cutting their budget.

So it’s fine to get mad at the Park Service. It’s just hard to turn that around into yet another Evil Obama meme.

Indeed, and your point is very important to remember in terms of the limitations of presidential power. While the president issues orders it is the various federal bureaucracies that implement such orders and they by necessity have leeway in how they do that. Some such bureaucracies misuse that leeway, but it is not something politicians are keen to call attention to. Most politicos are loath to admit the limits of their power.