Obama Acting Like a 'Dictator' on BP

Everyone is egging on the president to get tough on BP, but Obama simply has no legal or legislative authority to force the company to set up a multi-billion dollar fund for victims, writes Ben Stein. BP no doubt "acted irresponsibly," but Obama is going well beyond the scope of his presidential powers as spelled out in the Constitution by demanding "this immense transfer of the stockholders' wealth," writes Stein. It's akin to his decision to fire the head of the GM with a phone call.

"To create specific enactments and actions without any authority—now Mr. Obama's specialty—is so at odds with the law of the land that it terrifies me," writes Stein in the American Spectator. "These are not the acts of a teacher on Constitutional law. These are the acts of a big city boss or a third world dictator. If you want to know why business has pulled in its horns and hunkered down, and why people at tea parties and elsewhere are scared, look no further that Barack 'I Am The Law' Obama. " (More Gulf oil spill stories.)