Reason.tv: The President’s War – How Foreign Policy Became One Man’s Prerogative
by Reason TVAs Barack Obama announces the beginning of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, a far bigger issue – one that goes to the heart of American history and government – remains unaddressed.
“That the President has the right to start a war at his pleasure is just completely divorced from the original meaning of the Constitution,” says constitutional scholar Gene Healy.
President Bush declared a war on terror that could theoretically extend into any country accused of harboring terrorists, including the United States itself. President Obama not only expanded the war in Afghanistan soon after taking office, he decided to bomb Libya without consulting Congress.
Healy, author of The Cult of the Presidency and an analyst at the Cato Institute, offers a forceful critique of the increasingly expansive role of the president in not only conducting wars but in declaring them. While the Constitution delegates the declaration of war to Congress, Healy stresses that its members are usually more interested in “handing out the bacon and getting re-elected” than in being held accountable for the success and failure of military interventions.
Michael Ramsey, a constitutional scholar and law professor at the University of San Diego, believes that the Constitution grants the president fairly broad war powers, especially in response to attacks, but even he argues that President Obama’s recent Libya intervention has no Constitutional justification.
Is this any way to run a country’s foreign policy and military might?
Ramsey and Healy sat down with Reason.tv to discuss how presidential war powers have expanded over time – and whether that’s a good thing for the United States and the rest of the world.
Produced and Edited by Zach Weissmueller; shot by Paul Feine, Josh Swain, and Jim Epstein.
About 9 minutes.
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40 Comments
All I know is that every whacked out lefty group was out in force protesting "Bush's War" which was approved by Congress yet you can hear the crickets chirping from the lack of protests by these same hypocritical lefty groups over "Obama's War" in Libya which he did completely on his own and without approval.
The only thing worse than a president overstepping his authority in declaring war, is THIS president overstepping his authority in declaring war.
It's bad enough that we go to war without the consent of our representation. But to think we're going to war at the behest of a man who doesn't have America's best interest at heart is beyond stupid, it's criminal.
Impeachment. This isn't ambiguous.
Oh they are going on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x-741hA1wI What's happening is the media is ignoring the criticism being hoisted upon the most sensitive commander in chief. You can see that there are other protest videos against Obama as well, it isn't an isolated incident.
The man thinks he is Dictator of a Regime over America. We all know how Dictators end up!
He needs to be removed from power, ASAP, for multiple violations like Abuse of Power, Failure to uphold Oath of Office, Dereliction of Duty for not keeping U.S. safe, ie. National Security. This Country is infested with unknown, unscreened, Foreigners. Omarxist fits the text book description of a traitor.
Bush received Congressional authorization for his "kinetic military actions". Declaring war would have been a bit ambiguous in the case of Afghanistan, as the region did not have a government which we (or most anyone else) recognized as legitimate. B. Hussein Obama's adventure in Libya is different in that he has flatly refused to even attempt to gain Congressional approval.
AND Treason my friend. Well stated.
Announcing on TV his strategy for withdrawing from Afghanistan is treasonous. He's giving the numbers and the time lines to our enemies! That alone is treason, in my book.
What President announces that he's leaving a war way ahead of time? His only focus is doing this to get re-elected so that he can finish US off. Impeach him, and his sidekick who covers for him!
Thanks Peteo.
Foreign to the Constitution, is foreign to America….Obama exemplifies that fact!!!
The biggest enemy of the United States is the president himself. Obama has abused every power awarded the executive branch and does not abide the constitution at all. The dude does not abide.
So I guess if I piss the government off too bad, they could drop a JDAM into my living room.
Ed: Just some thoughts from the trenches. Carry On…
Still, no where near the extent that they were back then. Several left wing groups in my area that heavily protested the war back in the Bush years are quieter than church mice now. The only ones even remotely wound up are the college students and even they are quieter since these groups aren't the organizing force now to rally them together.
"As Barack Obama announces the beginning of
troop withdrawal fromsurrender in Afghanistan…"Spin…
I heard the first few words of his "speech" (the radio is in the other room – it took time to get there…), and I believe it started out by blaming Bush… Am I right?
I'm hoping he'll be all over in 2012…
Otherwise, we'll have to rely on a slightly squishy Congress to "Cowboy UP" and do the job…and I haven't been seeing a lot of Cowboys in there lately…
You are completely correct that was the first words out of his mouth.
Yep, all campaign rhetoric that puts our military in harms way. A dangerous man and regime. And, the stupid, ignorant, greedy, criminal "I'm holier than thou" PC crowd will stand behind him along with the George Soros' co-conspirators to give him more money to get the disgusting racist elected again! If that happens AGAIN, God help us all because there isn't anybody else that's going to help us.
Under Obama, U.S. Casualty Rate in Afghanistan Increased 5-Fold.
Obama made it worse! Naturally. Obama is a Muslim Saboteur. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/us-casualties-afg...
Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!
Heh heh! Oops – that was still echoing in my head…
Most Americans hate failure.
Obama is a FAILURE
Most Americans… Well, you see where I'm going here…
This is simply (in strictly political terms) a way to win back his base (and they are base…) This will blow up in his face too… I doubt the American electorate will "misoverestimate" this jack-ass a second time…
Well, second paragraph anyway… I guess I had him tuned out (as we all should – soon). What got my attention was "By the time I took office…", and then it was confirmed where he was going… What an utter LOSER…
Well to be perfectly honest I changed the channel when his first words were something he said about 10 years ago, I wasn't really paying attention plus that was all I could stomach.
The thing that I believe that the press can't stand is that Bush not only fought a somehow "Illegal" war(in spite of congressional approval), but he won it. Obama is losing two of them (or one and a half anyway.)
If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and read "How to Read (and Not to Write)" by Ayn Rand. It is in "The Voice of Reason", and will explain why you find Obama rhetorically repulsive on an intellectual level – and why so many people are stupid enough to fall for his foolishness…
You weren't "paying attention" because you already knew the type of drivel you would have heard – had you tortured your mind by actually listening…
Well if the protests aren't loud enough to your liking feel free to add your voice to them.
Thanks for the recommendation, I haven't read it but I will definitely put it on the reading list.
Just pointing out the hypocrisy, even though we here know what they're like.
At about 8:00 in the video, the narrator implies that both Bush and Obama have "[made] war with little or no regard for the opinion of congress." But that's just not the case. Bush went to the Congress for both Iraq and Afghanistan, and did not act until he had secured their approval.
Reason has always tried to be right down the middle between the Republicans and Democrats, and I'm hoping that this error is just a further attempt to be overly-diplomatic.
That's not a bad idea. Of course, you'll have to build up an immunity to nag champa incense and body odor before joining any of the lefty protests.
"The Fourth of July is a good time to remind ourselves that there is an urgent necessity for the nation's intellectual and political leaders to provide moral guidance at a time when so many people feel that the nation has lost it's way,"
True or false? In what way – either way?
That essay is hardly original, but it is biting in it's conciseness and clarity. Read and contemplate, and you will find yourself reading things you agree with and then questioning if the author has any damned clue what they are talking about… I hope you move it up the list and read it soon. Don't want to buy the book to find out? Go to a library – it is less than seven pages long… 15 minutes that will enlighten your perspective…
Antidote to the welfare/warfare party:
Call Dr. Paul at http://www.dailypaul.com and http://www.RonPaul2012.com.
By the way, 'HiredMind', Congress has not declared war since 1941 and we haven't won one since.
I have served in most of the losers — great fun and legacy.
" …. but he won it."
Really?
Which one and when?
Worse, he is a fool.
Oh, I think we did quite well in removing Iraq from Kuwait. That was the goal.
No, it's abhorrent to think we go to war without following the Constitution — Congress is supposed to declare war, not the President. Had we declared war against Afghanistan, I doubt we'd still be there building roads bridges and hospitals… things our military is not designed to do.
This is what happens when a, divided, PC, and "chickified" nation tries to go to war.
The enemy are muslims. They have used their time on this Earth not in the pursuit of peace, but war.
We have two options.
Isolation. Some days I really like this idea.
Or their marginal destruction such that they learn that we do not want to live like they do. This will require killing on a mass scale.
As of today Iran has openly said it is "not afraid" to make nuclear weapons.
Hillary Clinton has also said to the Congress "Whose side are you on?" with regard to the funding of Obama's war in Libya.
In WW2 we went to war to avoid being bullied by Nazis and the Imperial Japanese. We defined the enemy in clear terms. To enable our forces to do the killing necessary to win the war. Do you think my Grandfather did not suffer depression for decades after WW2 from all of the death he was forced to rain down on Italy, Germany and North Africa? Think again.
Converting back to the WW2 way of doing things will not happen by design, it will happen when the first mushroom cloud appears. Radicalized Muslims are bred to be smart and to be killers, now that they have control over Egypt and they have had Iran since 1979 they will one day strike. There can be no peace with Islam.
Sorry I am slow responding – gotta sleep sometime. Iraq. Replaced the government with a democracy which now MUST stand or fall on its own. A clear military victory.
That's okay. Sleep is good.I didn't know that our stated objective for the invasion and occupation of Iraq (or Afghanistan) was to install “a democracy”???When? Is that what Congress authorized? Is that Constitutional?It reminds one of Progressive Woodrow Wilson's imagined 1914 mandate “to make the world safe for democracy” — a system our Founders and Framers deplored.Of course, despite no declaration of war by Congress, as required by Article I, sec. 8, Iraq is now ruled by a Shiite majority with close theocratic ties to Iran.Good for us!”A clear military victory”???God, am I glad I'm retired!Yes, 'sleep is good' — but government education (and jingo neo-conservatism) are bad.
The military went in and killed people and broke things until Saddam was removed from power. That was the military objective. It's done. Political objectives are another matter.
“CasualMayhem” — As a retired senior military officer, I'll offer this response for your careful consideration:First, your digital pseudonym is very appropriate to this subject, i.e., why did we invade and choose to occupy Iraq and Afghanistan?Obviously, not just 'casual mayhem' but prolonged, bloody, expensive and illegal, so-called preventive disasters and quagmires; not just 'mayhem.'Yes, I did repeat myself to illustrate a point. Hope you got it.Secondly, there is no such thing as a war with “military” objectives without political intentions or consequences. Bush 41, Clinton and Bush 43 should have learned that lesson from the First Gulf War? What was its purpose and what were the political consequences/problems? Colin Powell said it best: He who shatters or destroys the pottery barn is probably going to have to fix it — ancient military philosophy. Powell had also learned the folly of undeclared war from his Vietnam experience as a junior and field-grade officer. See The Weinberger-Powell Doctrine (c. 1985), to which he contributed as a JCS general under Reagan.Most of the war-mongering, effective and lie-riddled propaganda that mobilized the fear-based support for the second Iraq War was centered on that great bogeyman WMD — remember??? Also, a nation sick with unbridled and vengeance for 911 was highly vulnerable for the neocon conmasters.It had nothing whatever to do — at least not publicly — with installing “democracy” in the region. That, my friend, is a Wilsonian, Progressive, neocon, government-school, NWO fantasy. So is the alleged legitimacy and constitutionality of preventive or pre-emptive war. or undeclared war.Ever wonder why we don't ever seem to really “win” any of these? And now Libya?But the sheeple still buy the fantasy, repeatedly led into these horrendous crimes by the oath-breaking civilian and military leaders who work for us.See George Orwell's “Animal Farm.”We have met the enemy and he is us.Good luck with your insane philosophy of war and national security — and neocon imperialism.
The only thing worse than a president overstepping his authority in declaring war, is THIS president overstepping his authority in declaring war. http://www.watchesn.com
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