Super: Aides say a 'liberated' Obama is finally able to be 'the President he always wanted to be'

If you had any hope that the Democrats' disastrous midterm would make the President think twice about his agenda - well, you were really kidding yourself. By now you should know that Obama's losses engender retaliation, not reflection. However, there was a certain segment of the population that thought a staggering defeat might force the administration to reassess its radical plans.

Those people are about to be disappointed. According to The Politico, White House aides say Obama feels "liberated" by the results. Now that he doesn't have to worry about shielding fellow Democrats (not that he did much of that) he's free to be "the President he always wanted to be."

Obama feels liberated, aides say, and sees the recent flurry of aggressive executive action and deal-making as a pivot for him to spend his final two years in office being more the president he always wanted to be. As of Wednesday, that includes doing what 50-plus years of predecessors couldn’t do in relations with Cuba, propelling a generational shift in American foreign policy that could bring down a final remaining pillar of the Cold War. The Cuba announcement follows a post-Election Day sprint that included sealing a landmark climate agreement with China, shielding 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, and reaching a deal that funds most of the government for nearly a year while protecting Obamacare and other top priorities.

---

So, if you think his mad dash towards unconstitutional edicts is an affront to the separation of powers, tough noogies. Obama has learned only one lesson - and, despite the election and post-election polling, it's not that people are sick of his unilateral diktats. He's learned that he can get away with just about anything. Executive actions, orders, and memoranda are his new best friends. However, there may be a silver lining should the republic survive his final two years.

The midterms are done, and Obama feels that he doesn’t have to worry about being the driving factor in any other Democrat’s election. He has spent a year nudging Americans to judge him less on legislative accomplishments and more on his executive actions. And now he has a fully Republican Congress that he can alternate butting up against and making deals with — but really not thinking much about it at all.

If Obama is truly "nudging Americans to judge him less on legislative accomplishments and more on his executive actions" his legacy and his party are in deep, deep, trouble. What this President is doing has shown to be - time and time again - deeply unpopular. Yet Democrats are almost assuredly going to shut their mouths and quietly go along with the Executive power grab. That means that the Republicans will probably have an opportunity to tie the Dems' 2016 candidate to Obama's dictatorial method of governing. If the last few months are any indication, the country will spend the next two years getting more and more fed up with Presidential fiats. ...And the Dems will be forced to defend it. In the meantime, hang on to your hats. A Barack Obama unconstrained by political strategy? That should make for one wild ride.