AMNESTY: John Hinderaker: Is Barack Obama Plotting a Coup? “When a tyrant asserts the right to rule by decree in a state that has formerly been subject to the rule of law, he is commonly described as carrying out a coup d’etat. That is just what the Obama administration has done, and reportedly will continue to do. . . . Can you imagine the furor that would have resulted if President Nixon, in the midst of the Watergate crisis, had asserted the right to repeal or amend federal statutes by decree? No, actually, you can’t. Forget impeachment; he would have been escorted out of the Oval Office by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. What, then, makes Barack Obama special?” He’s black. And a Democrat. Not necessarily in that order.