Can the president change the law?
No.
Our president takes an oath to follow the constitution, and to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. Under our constitution, the president has no lawmaking power.
Despite this, President Obama is taking actions that certainly evade, if not ignore, the limits of his power. He is not the first to push the limits of the power of the presidency. George W Bush's "signing statements" were outrageous, and condemned by those on the left at the time. We should expect presidents to test the limits of their powers. However, Congress and the people have a duty to push back, and lately, I'm not seeing that happening.
In fact, his declarations of impatience that he will "not wait for Congress" are actually popular in some quarters. They should be of great concern. He may as well say "I don't care about the constitution!".
Charles Krauthammer's recent column should be a wake-up call.
Read it here
(For those interested in the details on the congressional "participation" in the PPACA, I suggest this article from Heritage.)
The Rule of Law is what binds our nation together. We cannot permit our officials to ignore the law, if we are to "keep our republic".