What a President can do
This is from Frank Rich’s column in the New York Times:
Much as Obama repealed the Bush restrictions on abortion and stem-cell research shortly after pushing through his stimulus package, so F.D.R. jump-started the repeal of Prohibition by asking Congress to legalize beer and wine just days after his March 1933 inauguration and declaration of a bank holiday.
But F.D.R had to get a law passed through Congress, whereas President Obama is able to merely issue a decree. The comparison should remind us how much the power of the President has grown during the last 76 years.