Hillary Clinton is running for president.
That is the only takeaway from The Wall Street Journal's scoop yesterday that White House Counselor John Podesta will leave President Obama's service this February in order to take a "senior role" in Clinton's "emerging presidential bid."
Separately, The Washington Post reported that Clinton has also hired Joel Benenson as chief strategist and pollster, and Jim Margolis as media adviser. Both are veteran campaign operatives that worked for Obama's campaigns in2008 and 2012. She is running.
But the biggest news is the addition of Podesta who is the architect of Obama's post-2010 imperial presidency.
In November 2010, just days after Republicans took over the House of Representatives by a historic landslide, Podesta produced a report titled, "The Power of the Presidency," advising:
Concentrating on executive powers presents a real opportunity for the Obama administration to turn its focus away from a divided Congress and the unappetizing process of making legislative sausage. ... It would be a welcome relief from watching legislative maneuvering to see the work of a strong executive who is managing the business of the country through troubled times.
Not only did Obama follow the advice from Podesta's report, he even brought Podesta on as a "counselor" in 2013 to better implement his imperial vision. Politico reported at the time:
In effect, I was told, it represents the clearest sign to date of the administration’s interest in shifting the paradigm of Obama’s presidency through the forceful, unapologetic and occasionally provocative application of White House power. Podesta, whose official mandate includes enforcement of numerous executive orders on emissions and the environment, suggested as much when he spoke with me earlier this fall about Obama’s team. “They need to focus on executive action given that they are facing a second term against a cult worthy of Jonestown in charge of one of the houses of Congress,” he told me.
"A cult worthy of Jonestown."
That is what Hillary Clinton and her new campaign manager John Podesta think of the Republican Party. And because Clinton and Podesta view Republicans as a death-cult, they believe that gives them the power to ignore the Constitution and enact progressive policies on immigration, climate change, internet regulation, free speech, etc., all by executive fiat.
Those are the stakes for 2016.