Wasn’t that sweet? Maybe if the guy plays his cards right he can still be ambassador to Luxembourg.

That seems to have concluded any “move to the middle,” however. Mr. Obama had already signaled the week before that he will “aim to work around an uncooperative Congress” (in the words of Washington Post reporter Zachary Goldfarb) by enacting many proposals — from tougher regulations on coal-fired plants to new protections for gays and lesbians — through what the Post calls Mr. Obama’s “increasingly aggressive use of executive authority.”

The problem with this rule by executive order, with its avoidance of debate and compromise, is not so much that it gives us a “gets-things-done” dictator who can murder U.S. citizens at whim.