Obama goes Rogue [Reader Post]

Hillary Clinton has declared that Barack Obama is now above the Constitution of the United States. The person who as candidate for President said:

“The President has the solemn duty to defend our Nation. If the country is under truly imminent threat of attack, of course the President must take appropriate action to defend us. At the same time, the Constitution requires Congress to authorize war. I do not believe that the President can take military action — including any kind of strategic bombing — against Iran without congressional authorization. That is why I have supported legislation to bar President Bush from doing so and that is also why I think it is irresponsible to suggest, as some have recently, that anything Congress already has enacted provides that authority.”

Now says

After Wednesday’s briefing, legislators said Clinton told them the administration acted within the requirements of the War Powers Act and needed no congressional authorization for further decisions on the mission.

Got that? He don’ need no stinkin’ Congress

The War Powers Act:

The War Powers Resolution of 1973 (50 U.S.C. 1541–1548) was a United States Congress joint resolution providing that the President can send U.S. armed forces into action abroad only by authorization of Congress or in case of “a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.” The War Powers Resolution requires the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30 day withdrawal period, without an authorization of the use of military force or a declaration of war. The resolution was passed by two-thirds of Congress, overriding a presidential veto.

To suggest that Libya constitutes “a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces” is ludicrous.

One cannot help but wonder what kind of thought processes occupy the craniums of Democrats, presuming there are really any to begin with. Apparently showing early signs of dementia, Hillary Clinton demonstrates a complete lack of long term memory with her current opinions. While George Bush was President, it was her opinion that “any kind of strategic bombing” required Congressional approval. What we are doing in Libya is the very “strategic bombing” that Senator Hillary Clinton believed required Congressional approval but now disavows her own words.

“Hypocrite” just doesn’t do the job of describing Democrats any longer. It does not convey the depths of deception and deceit this administration and its supporters have exhibited.

Clinton tells us that Obama can now flaunt the Constitution at will and is no longer answerable or accountable to the people of this country. He’s gone rogue. She suggests that he is free to conduct war (excuse me, kinetic military action) on an unlimited scale without anyone’s approval. Obama is free to invade and occupy Libya for as long as he wants without anyone saying OK. And what’s more, the Obama administration has made clear it could not care less what America thinks.

Lawmakers said they weren’t told much by Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Defense Gates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen or Director of National Intelligence James Clapper that they couldn’t read in the newspaper or see on television.

They said one dynamic was very clear: The administration doesn’t much care what Congress thinks about the actions it’s taken so far.

Had George Bush acted in this manner Democrats would already have drawn up articles of impeachment.

Absolutely nothing Barack Obama has said about this conflict is true, yet he is still acting as though he is king instead of President. Until Congress bothers to interrupt the agenda of the rogue President Obama will act as though he is beyond the reach of the Constitution. When did we all agree that the end justifies the means?

So who is going to put and end to this? John Boehner is likely to sit down and have a good cry. Harry Reid is contemptible partisan hack who’s more interested in cowboy poetry than in America’s laws.

It is eminently clear that despite the initial claims that regime change was not a goal, regime change is the goal. And that is why you’re an idiot to believe anything Barack Obama says. It’s pretty safe to assume the exact opposite of what Obama says every time.

Ultimately we either remove or kill Gaddafi. Then what? What of the Pottery Barn rule- if you break it you buy it? Who is going to fill in the void left behind in the wake of Gaddafi’s removal? Already, Al Qaida is being seen among the “rebels” in Libya and Anwar Al-Awlki has put his stamp of approval on Obama’s Libyan action.

Al-Awlaki writes that such statements by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates “prove that either the intelligence reports these guys are reading are misleading or that they are trying to justify the stance that they are forced to take in support of the Arab masses, by claiming that they are bad for al Qaeda when they know very well that the opposite is the case.”

Whatever the outcome of the revolts, “our mujahideen brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya .. will get a chance to breathe again after three decades of suffocation,” he writes.

It’s almost as though Obama is doing the work of Al Qaida. Without an occupation force to bring a semblance of order to a post-Gaddafi Libya chaos is likely to reign for some time and chaos is the most fertile of grounds for the growth of extremism. And if and when Gadaffi is removed, who will protect the pro-Gaddafi forces from slaughter? Obama is exploiting everyone’s dislike of Gaddafi, but what’s the plan? What really is the ultimate goal and how are we going to get there?

It could also be that Obama plans an Iraq-style occupation to stabilize the situation, which would make his current position one more outright falsehood. Given his continuous misrepresentations, little would surprise me any more.

Obama supporters would do well remembering Obama’s own words as a measure of of his duplicity and his lack of trustworthiness.

“Change in the region will not and cannot be imposed by the United States or any foreign power.”

There is little reason to trust Barack Obama. He has not articulated an honest appraisal of the war in Libya. He has not made an honest case for the war to the American people. Obama’s war is supposed to solve a humanitarian problem despite the fact that Senator Obama said

“The United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems.”

That was never the case and Obama knew it. He has done nothing but lie to the American people and it has to stop. Perhaps the mounting civilian death toll will give Obama pause.

As someone might say

Smokey, this is not ‘Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.

But if you’re Barack Obama, you are above the rules. And above the Constitution.

DrJohn

DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.

DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.

Except for liberals being foolish.