Despite the observation by some that President Obama's State of the Union Address lacked vim and vigor, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough is challenging that notion, promising that the president plans "audacious executive action" in his final year in office.

During a breakfast with reporters in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, McDonough responded to the observation that the president’s final speech before Congress lacked the usual pledge to “go it alone” if lawmakers failed to act. 

Coupled with the feeble executive actions on gun control announced earlier this month, had President Obama rethought the utility of acting unilaterally on issues important to the White House? 

“We’ll do audacious executive action over the course of the rest of the year, I’m confident of that,” said McDonough, explaining that President Obama’s decision not to outline specific executive actions was more about a commitment to process than a lack of willpower. 

“Process is your friend, but process also dictates what you can do,” McDonough said. “And we do want to make sure that the executive actions we undertake are not left hanging out there, subject to Congress undoing them.” 

According to National Review, while gun control and immigration seem like obvious choices, McDonough said Obama is considering executive action on a range of different issues, and that the primary question in the president's mind currently is simply: “Why not?”

“And so that’s the spirit through which we’ll approach this last year,” McDonough said.

Given the president's penchant for executive orders, can't say we are surprised. In fact, for as much damage has been wreaked in the last seven years, a substantial amount more can be leveled in Obama's last year, now that he does not need to worry about campaigning for re-election. In many ways, the "gloves can come off." Most disturbing is that we've seen what he is capable of when the gloves are on.