Several liberal bloggers praised Obama’s decision to recess appoint Cordray. | AP Photos Left bloggers hail 'new Obama'

Liberal bloggers reacted in shock and surprise to President Barack Obama’s decision to recess appoint Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and members to the National Labor Relations Board, heralding a “new Obama” — one they hope is more likely to challenge Republicans head-on.

“This is part of the ‘new Obama,’” writes John Aravosis of the liberal AMERICAblog.


“I really didn’t think Obama would want to set a new presidential precedent like this,” writes FireDogLake’s David Dayden, who had earlier predicted that the president would pass on recess appointments. “But obstructionists in the Senate have really left him little choice. … Until a price is paid for obstruction, there’s no reason for the obstructors to stop.”

” No More Mr. Nice Obama” and “ King of the Playground,” blared headlines for posts at the progressive The American Prospect.

Obama is “sending one more signal that the days of his accommodating Republican rejectionists are over,” the magazine’s Harold Meyerson wrote.

Daily Kos hailed Obama’s move as “bold,” a decision made despite the site’s prediction that “most [Republicans] will declare their use of a recess appointment to be unconstitutional, while talk of impeaching Obama will likely spread throughout the right-wing media.”

“President Obama is obviously getting fed up with the nihilistic obstructionism of the Republican Party,” added Charles Johnson at LittleGreenFootballs.

Meanwhile, conservative bloggers flipped out at the departure from prior precedence.

Since a prolonged congressional recess cannot occur without the formal agreement of both House and Senate, Republicans have been holding pro forma sessions to prevent a recess appointment.

The president’s decision to appoint an individual to the CFPB and NLRB, conservatives say, is an unconstitutional and even “tyrannical” move. The Obama administration has argued that pro-forma sessions are not an obstacle to the constitutional right of the president to make recess appointments.

“There’s just one slight problem, the Senate isn’t actually in recess. … This is a blatant violation of the Constitution and he’s doing it simply to pick a fight with congressional Republicans and energize his base,” writes conservative blogger Ace of Spades.

On The Heritage Foundation’s blog, The Foundry, Todd Gaziano writes that his experience in the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department leads him to conclude that Obama’s appointment is a “tyrannical abuse of power.”

Echoing the sentiment of business groups, the National Review’s Iain Murray writes that “this is the president declaring war on the House and Senate GOP.”

Further, HotAir’s AllahPundit charged that the president was making the appointments merely to boost his reelection prospects.

“Why would O risk a constitutional confrontation with Congress over something as minor as the NLRB or his new consumer board? Why, for the same reason he does everything: Because it might help him get reelected. … And if that means taking a dump on the Constitution to help labor and impress middle-class voters, well, that’s just what strong, blue-collar presidents have to do sometimes,” he writes.