Reelection above all

We've seen where the White House held back defining some of the rules necessary for the Affordable Care Act because they felt this would impact the 2012 election negatively for Mr. O. The rules for Obamacare were not the only rules held off because of the election. The Washington Post has an extensive article on this today; the newspaper says that its article is based on documents and interviews with current and former administration officials.

The postponed rules also affected the environment and worker safety. Rules covering such matters as our waters, industrial boiler pollution, exposure to silica were deemed to be less important than winning an election. 

True, every other administration probably did something like this but it looks like the number and scope of delays under Obama went well beyond those of his predecessors. A report by the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), an independent agency that advises the federal government on regulatory issues, said internal reviews of proposed regulatory changes “took longer in 2011 and 2012 because of concerns about the agencies issuing costly or controversial rules prior to the November 2012 election.”