Barack Obama is no Ronald Reagan

President Obama is fond of comparing himself to great men in history, such as Lincoln, FDR, and on more than one occasion, Ronald Reagan.

Obama has stated that he would like to go down in history as a transformative leader like Reagan. A noble aspiration, to be sure, but Obama has forgotten that last portion of his oath of office where he swore to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Among his many admirable attributes, President Reagan had a profound respect for our Constitution and the rule of law. When Reagan wanted to accomplish a policy goal, he cajoled, negotiated and pressured Congress to work with him to make it happen. If, as was often the case, too many Democrats in Congress opposed his initiative, Reagan would simply go over their heads and appeal directly to the American people.

Reagan trusted the people to understand the worthiness of his ideas, and to apply sufficient pressure to their representatives to help push his agenda through Congress.

And it worked. That's why they called it the "Reagan Revolution." Reagan presented his ideas to the American people, and he persuaded them to support his agenda.

Reagan was dubbed "the great communicator" and rightfully so. Reagan used his bully pulpit to do what presidents are supposed to do, which is lead by persuasion.

President Obama is working on a revolution of a different kind. Unlike Reagan, Obama has repeatedly demonstrated his disdain for the Constitution and contempt for the rule of law.

President Obama prefers to rule by executive fiat. He weaves and dodges around the Constitution every chance he gets. Obama cherry-picks the laws he wants to enforce, and ignores the laws that "get in his way."

After cramming Obamacare down our throats, over the objections of a majority of voters, President Obama began granting waivers to selected union supporters and companies owned by dependable Democratic campaign contributors. There was no authorization in the law for waivers to anyone. Obama just did it, and he got away with it.

Recently, Obama decided to unilaterally waive Obamacare’s cap on annual out-of-pocket expenses for another year. This exemption for selected health insurers is not allowed for in the law as written, but again, our current president just makes it up as he goes - and gets away with it again.

Obama's favorite play is the "end-run-around-Congress" and so far it is working out well for him. (For the rest of us, not so much.)

Can't get Congress to pass a carbon tax that will shut down coal-fired power plants and cause electricity rates to skyrocket? Instruct the EPA to classify carbon-dioxide as a hazardous waste and regulate it without the approval of Congress.

Can't get Congress to pass the DREAM act? No problem, simply order the Justice Department to ignore enforcement of immigration laws. When your name is Barack Obama, the rules don't apply to you!

Obama's contempt for the rule of law is well documented. Unfortunately, you won't read about it in most of the national media outlets, since they are only interested in scandals that involve conservatives or Republicans. Can you imagine the outcry if the NSA snooping scandal or the Benghazi cover-up had occurred during President Bush's term?

My fear is that President Obama's real legacy will survive to haunt us for many generations to come.

He has established a dangerous precedent, at least for future liberal Democrats elected to the Presidency: You are above the law. Make the rules up as you go. Congress will not constrain your lust for power.  The media will not hold you accountable. You don't need no stinkin' Constitution.

Since the limits on power specified by the Constitution are pretty much the only things that prevent a president from becoming a dictator, shouldn't we common folks be a little more motivated towards protecting our Constitution from abuse?

Barack Obama will never be another Ronald Reagan. To the contrary, he is the closest thing to a tyrant we have ever had.

He has become our first lawless president.