This is one of several articles noting that President Obama, “exercising [his] powers as President,” removed Senate-confirmed Inspector General Gerald Walpin of the Corporation for National and Community Service. 

Walpin had been criticized for the way he handled an investigation into Kevin Johnson, former point guard of the Phoenix Suns, who was elected Mayor of Sacramento last November and is an ally of the president’s.

This does seem to qualify as an unusually rare exercise of presidential power.