http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/01/22/hume-obama-has-so-little-influence-executive-actions-all-hes-got-leftMEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS HOST: Ed mentioned one week from tonight we will be covering the State of the Union Address. And while President Obama promised last year to work with lawmakers on a number of issues, he's sounding a different sort of message in recent days.
PRES. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES: Where Congress isn't acting, I'll act on my own.
We are not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we're providing Americans the kind of help that they need. One of the things that I'm going to be talking to my cabinet about, is how do we use all the tools available to us, not just legislation. I've got a pen and I've got a phone. And I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward.
In the meantime, I'm directing my administration to move forward where we can on our own.
But I'm also going to act on my own if Congress is deadlocked. I have a pen to take executive action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Brit Hume is our FOX News senior political analyst. So, he has a pen Brit, he's got pen and a phone.
BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, maybe -- well, he does have a pen and a phone, and the most potent use of the pen in the hands of chief executive is a veto. But he doesn't have to worry about vetoing much of anything. Because any legislation that he might dislike that would -- out of the House of Representatives won't get through the Senate, so he's rarely had to worry about vetoing anything. And as for what he can do with the pen to sign executive orders, there are some things he can do.
They're not very big or he already would have done them. That's the issue here. Now, he does have a telephone, he can call people up, he can stage events at the White House and rally his base, and you should never understatement his ability to do that. I've never seen a president as good at rallying his base as president best I've ever seen. But that only goes so far.
KELLY: There he is on his phone.
HUME: There you go. Sure. I mean, all presidents can do that. And it's not to be -- I don't mean to be little it but it just, it can only go so far.
KELLY: I mean, what does it tell you that he's now at the point of, you know, I've got a pen and a phone and I'm going to act on my own.
HUME: Well, it's about all he's got left. I mean, look, he's basically been politically, in terms of legislation and major initiatives, frozen since the Republicans got control of the House in 2010. And the Republicans who came in, not to mention those who were already there are not at all sympathetic to his agenda, in so in order for him to get anything through the Congress that he wants, he has to make the kind of concessions he has so far been unwilling to make.
For example, he would like to see an increase -- I mean, a continuation of these unemployment benefits. That have been on an emergency basis for some time. He could get that, but he would have to pay for it, that is to say, he would have to find savings in other parts of the budget. He's unwilling to do that. And the result is, that kind of stalemate that you heard him mentioned. He can't really get anything done because he's not willing to give up enough for better or for worse to do it. And, you know, that's the kind of horse trading you kind of have to do if you get anything done. Otherwise you're stuck with a pen and a telephone and there's real reference to that.
KELLY: They're beautiful pens, we see them whenever he signs bills into law. He has tried to do certain things because he believes that there's an obstructionist Congress. In his defense, they say that, you know, this Congress is the least productive ever. And the one before, you know, that was just as unproductive. So, he says he has to do something. And so, he did things like appoint guys to the NLRB and gals, you know, without Congressional approval, on what he said were recesses and now the courts have said, well, no, they weren't and so on. Do you see this next, you know, the remainder of his presidency as being mired in court proceedings as we've seen in the past year?
HUME: Well, there's going to be some more of this. I mean, as you pointed out, those MLRB appointments and a bunch of others that he made during the -- and a bunch of other things that were done during that Senate appointment -- the Senate supposed recess, which I think the Supreme Court is going to find was not a recess at all. Because the Senate is the body that gets to decide when it's in recess, that's all going to be struck down. And when those deployments are struck down, all kinds of actions that were taken by those appointees, or their appointees' participation, will fall with them, so this is an example of the kind of limits you find when you're using your pen to try to order things or to get things done.
It's one thing he can do there Megyn that's worth noting, and that is it appears he's going to be able to make some appointments to the U.S. Court of Appeals here in Washington, because the Senate has decided that they're not going to permit any further filibusters on such nominees. And that's a very important court when it comes to regulations.
KELLY: And they review a lot of what he does.
HUME: A number of regulatory agencies, and it will mean that he will have a better chance of having regulations that he signs with his pen or that are signed in the agencies that he presides over, to stand if that -- if he can fill that court -- fill out that court in the way that he wants.
KELLY: I'll stay on the record. I too have a pen and a phone. See you, Brit.
HUME: All right.
