Guess who rakes Obama over the coals for the abuse of executive power?

John Yoo.

Some think me a zealous advocate of executive power, and often I am when it comes to national security issues. But I think President Obama has exceeded his powers by making a recess appointment for Richard Cordray (whom I respect and have no problems with as a nominee) to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Yoo's key point is that it's up to the Senate to decide whether it's in recess:

Even with my broad view of executive power, I’ve always thought that each branch has control over its own functions and has the right — if not the duty — to exclude the others as best it can from its own decisions....

Yoo says that the Senate needs to defend itself from encroachments by the President, and that here it can refuse to support the agency in any way. But, more important, anyone who is affected by the new agency challenge could challenge the constitutionality of all of the agency's work.

However the courts would ultimately resolve the issue, the questionable appointment casts a pall over all the agency's work and, in an election year, tells us something about the way Obama understands the role of the President. So a third remedy for this power grasp — in addition to Senate resistance and court challenges — is for the GOP candidates to assail Obama for overreaching.

Let's see what those candidates do, because a big question — as the GOP chooses its candidate — is: Who is best at attacking Obama?