Yesterday John McCormack posted here the clip of then candidate Obama declaring that George Bush used signing statements to “accumulate more power in the presidency.” The implication of Obama’s remarks was that Bush aimed to accumulate more power than the Constitution vests in the executive, that Bush was sort of, well, unconstitutional! Seldom if ever did the once con-law professor Obama or his legion of lawyer admirers contemplate any executive power grabs or intrusions (to put it more gently) on executive authority by Congress (much less by a Democratic Congress) when it passes a bill. But lo, in signing the omnibus spending bill, Obama issued a statement (his very first signing statement) that is shot through with concern about precisely those things. Consider: