I don't particularly like to do political posts. I don't feel especially qualified to pontificate about political subjects. But, for crying out loud, there's a lot to talk about today.
Thing the first: President Bush signed the Defense Appropriation Bill, which you'll remember had the anti-torture amendment in it. The next thing he said (wrote, actually)?
The executive branch shall construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the President, evidenced in Title X, of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks.
I'm not entirely convinced that's actually a sentence, but we get a translation in The Boston Globe, which quotes a senior White House official.
Of course the president has the obligation to follow this law, [but] he also has the obligation to defend and protect the country as the commander in chief, and he will have to square those two responsibilities in each case. We are not expecting that those two responsibilities will come into conflict, but it's possible that they will.
So the McCain Amendment means whatever the president wants it to mean. About as much as the law against electronic surveillance without a warrant, perhaps? Oh yeah, let's talk about that.
Thing the second: He admitted that he didn't bother to get a warrant, which would almost certainly have been granted. In fact, he'd do it again. I'm really curious as to why this isn't an impeachable offense. For all I know, it is. Calls for hearings are coming from both sides of the aisle, which I find slightly encouraging. I hope they're only the beginning of the president's troubles over this.
The issue that could prevent or postpone the called-for hearings would be ...
Thing the third: The Senate has scheduled the confirmation hearings for Judge Alito. MoveOn is encouraging the Senate to re-schedule the hearings (and Senator Durbin from Illinois is on the Judiciary Committee which sets that schedule). Judge Alito can wait. The Senate could try to figure out next steps re: the wire taps, and the political left would get correspondingly more time to organize against Alito's confirmation. The evil me would love to see the wheels come completely off Mr. Bush's wagon. In part because his proposals and strategies stink, but in part just because he deserves it. You can take some action on this subject starting here: MoveOn
And there's always the war.
Thing the fourth, fifth, and sixth: The war. Some of these domestic issues are starting to make sense to me now. The president clearly thought -or wanted us to believe, anyway- that we could export democracy using guns and by deposing a tyrant. The thing is, democracy is hard. The citizens have responsibilities. Elected officials continue to have the responsibilities of all citizens and add others to the mix. Information has to flow freely, and people have to avail themselves of it. There's more, of course, but you know it as well as I do. But it seems that Mr. Bush does not.
And why would I be surprised that he misunderstands democracy on the international front and also on the domestic front? I shouldn't be, of course, but I am.
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