Josh Earnest dismisses criticism of Obama as 'emperor'; @ExJon provides sculpture just in case [video, Photoshop]

Doug P. | 4:54 PM on November 19, 2014

Last year, President Obama said he was “president, not emperor of the United States.”

The “emperor” label has returned in the wake of Obama’s planned executive order on immigration, which Josh Earnest talked about at today’s press conference (video followed by partial transcript):

“We’ve heard this kind of rhetoric about lawlessness from House Republicans for some time. I know that their most recent statement referred to ‘Emperor Obama.’ The fact of the matter is, the president is somebody who is willing to examine the law, review the law and use every element of that law to make progress for the American people. And if that is something that Republicans are critical of, that is maybe a criticism the president wears with badge of honor I think.”

Sure thing, Josh.

Josh Earnest did not say that Obama wears the term “emperor” with a “badge of honor” -referring to Obama’s willingness to use the law to act

— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) November 19, 2014