Meet the new boss, same as the old boss:

Mr. Obama, in a video for a climate-change summit Tuesday, pledged to pursue energy policies that would reduce greenhouse emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and reduce them an additional 80% by 2050. Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, speaking to a Wall Street Journal conclave of business leaders Tuesday, said the economic crisis facing the country is "an opportunity to do things you could not do before."

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste," Mr. Emanuel said.

In the wake of 9/11, George W. Bush and the Republican controlled Congress sought new powers that undermined the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It's not the first time a president has sought or taken extraordinary powers during a crisis. The greatest example is Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose economic policies only prolonged and worsened the Great Depression.

An example of not letting "a serious crisis to go to waste" was in 1933 when FDR issued Executive Order 6102, making the ownership of gold illegal. You can read more about FDR's economic crimes here.

During a testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Bob Barr said that the next president will use whatever powers usurped by the previous administration as a floor, not a ceiling. The Bush Administration has left quite a floor for the incoming administration. These comments indicate that Obama is ready to take advantage of the situtation. That is bad news for taxpayers.