2011/03/22

Barack Obama: Imperial President

Glenn Greenwald provides a perfect takedown of the Obama Administration over its decision to engage in combat operation in Libya without the approval of Congress.  In the process, he also attacks both Democrats and Republicans for having identical positions on the unilateral ability of the President to essentially start wars with consulting Congress despite the Constitution's clear delegation of war-making authority to Congress.  That position of course, is that it is totally unacceptable and unconstitutional for a president of the opposite party to unilaterally start wars, but it is totally within the authority of a president from their own party.

This is yet one more manifestation of Barack Obama's complete agreement with many of the national security policies of George W. Bush.  When it comes to supporting portions of FISA, extending the Patriot Act, and now engaging in military strikes without consulting Congress, Barack Obama obviously has the same conception of the imperial presidency that has been universal to almost every president since World War Two.

I find this incredibly unsurprising.  The history of US foreign and national security policy is so remarkably consistent no matter which party is in control that it is difficult to imagine the president acting in any other way.  However, I do have some pity for Obama voters who believed that we were going to get a serious break from the heavy handed views on national security policy that we endured during the aughts.

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