ABC News reporter Jon Karl asked President Obama if he thinks inaction from Congress has given him the "green light to push the limits of executive power, even a duty to do so."
Questioning the president during a press conference Wednesday night, Karl reminded Obama that he once said, "The biggest problems that we’re facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m president of the United States of America."
Continuing his question about pushing the limits of executive power, Karl asked, "Does it bother you more to be accused of being an imperial president pushing those limits, or to be accused of being a do-nothing president who couldn't get anything done because he faced a dysfunctional congress?"
"I think that I never have a green light. I'm bound by the Constitution," Obama replied. "I'm bound by separation of powers. There's some things we can't do."
Obama said that, wherever he had the authority to "make progress", "I'm going to seize those opportunities--and that's what I think the American people expect me to do."
"We're going to make sure that every time we take one of these steps that we are working within the confines of my executive power," Obama continued, "but I promise you the American people don't want me just standing around twidlling my thumbs and waiting for Congress to get something done."