Wednesday, June 15, 2011

GW Redux

More and more we see Obama adopting the GW Bush strategies. Now, it's using lawyer's 'uncommon' reasoning to justify something Obama wants to do. The role of John Yoo has been assigned to Harold Koh. The issue is whether the War Powers Resolution, which restricts the President's war-making powers, has been violated by our actions in Libya.  Mr. Koh says no because “We are not saying the president can take the country into war on his own. We are not saying the War Powers Resolution is unconstitutional or should be scrapped, or that we can refuse to consult Congress. We are saying the limited nature of this particular mission is not the kind of ‘hostilities’ envisioned by the War Powers Resolution.” 

Brad Sherman and many other Congressmen disagree.  Sherman thinks we are seeing another example of the imperial presidency. A couple of trenchant comments from Mr. Sherman:
People have got to understand that America cannot play the role that it wants to play in foreign policy if it ignores its own constitution.

The second most important thing is that we bring democracy and the rule of law to Libya. The first most important thing is that we have democracy and the rule of law in the United States.  

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