Question: Why are Americans so certain there will be a presidential election in 2016 and that Barack Obama will leave office in January 2017?

Answer: Because it’s the law and because it’s American tradition.

However, we currently have a man in the White House who respects neither the law nor the American tradition of peaceful changes of power.

With regard to his contempt of the law, here are just a few examples:

• He abused his executive authority for the purpose of effectively changing immigration law, even after admitting repeatedly that he had no constitutional authority to do so. He even broke administrative law in the process, according to a federal judge who reviewed the action and ruled it was illegal. Obama’s response? He dug in his heels and doubled down in his determination to carry out his illegal plan, threatening any government employees who refused to execute his order with retribution.
• He conducted military intervention in Libya without congressional approval.
• In Operation Fast and Furious, the Obama administration ordered gun store owners to illegally sell thousands of firearms to Mexican drug dealers, resulting in the deaths of many including Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
• He gave $535 million in taxpayer dollars to campaign contributors and lobbyists, claiming it was for a revolutionary “green energy” startup called Solyndra that would create 4,000 new jobs. The company quickly went bankrupt, after selling its product for less than the cost of production. By publicly overstating the company’s financial condition, Obama broke the same law that resulted in Martha Stewart, a private citizen, going to prison.
• By appointing dozens of “czars” without seeking Senate confirmation, Obama violated the Constitution according to Democrats Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.V., and Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.
• He signed Obamacare into law despite the fact that it was a revenue bill and did not initiate in the House of Representatives as per the Constitution.

As for his disrespect for American tradition, recall that as a candidate for the presidency he called for “the fundamental transformation of America.”

While downplaying and ignoring foreign threats to national security, Obama and his administration have both hyped the domestic threat of “right-wing extremists,” even participating in a raid of a lawful Texas political meeting in which all parties were detained and fingerprinted.

And then, of course, there’s the ever-present reality that Obama himself may not even be constitutionally eligible for office. In fact, if he’s telling the truth about his parentage and the “birth certificate” he produced after years of demands from the public is real, he could not possibly be a “natural born citizen” as required by the Constitution.

So with all of this history – and much more, in fact – why do we assume Obama will step aside willingly from the presidency following an election in 2016?

I’m not saying he won’t. I’m just asking why. And judging from the number of questions I’m getting along these lines from the public, I’d say there’s great concern out there across the fruited plain.

Maybe we assume he will respectfully leave office after two terms because he has publicly said he would. In 2013, Obama said he and his family might remain in Washington after leaving office.

But that begs the question of whether Obama is truthful.

Remember what he said about his immigration order before issuing it: “This is something I’ve struggled with throughout my presidency. The problem is that I’m the president of the United States; I’m not the emperor of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed. And Congress right now has not changed what I consider to be a broken immigration system. And what that means is that we have certain obligations to enforce the laws that are in place even if we think that in many cases the results may be tragic. … [W]e’ve kind of stretched our administrative flexibility as much as we can.”

Remember what he said about Obamacare before it was implemented: “No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people. If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.”

Remember what he said about ISIS? Now what does he say? “I didn’t call the Islamic State a ‘JV’ team.”