Althouse: Obama "is deeply concerned both that his office... never violate its primary duty to abide by the Constitution’s checks and balances..."

May 19, 2013

Obama "is deeply concerned both that his office... never violate its primary duty to abide by the Constitution’s checks and balances..."

"... and that he nonetheless exercise those powers to the limit as needed to protect the nation and its people."

Says Harvard lawprof Laurence Tribe, quoted in a Washington Post article amusingly titled "President Obama exercises a fluid grip on the levers of power."

68 comments:

robinintn said...: Stop protecting me.; 5/19/13, 7:34 AM
SGT Ted said...: No, Obama is NOT concerned about violating the Constitution.

He is only concerned about being caught violating it, which is why we gets rafts of bullshit excuses instead of any fact finding from the WH and their suck-ups in the MSM and Academia.; 5/19/13, 7:34 AM
Anonymous said...: Nicely put Sarge.

I wasn't impressed either by the two examples of his light hand on the rudder of state.
- not unilaterally raising the debt ceiling in violation of the Law of the land, passed by Congress and signed by him
- ignoring the immigration laws of the country by refusing to do what the law cleared directs (deporting dreamers when found)

lawless and arbitrary is how I would describe his approach...; 5/19/13, 7:42 AM
Anonymous said...: The other general point to his willful malfeasance is his finding the ability to "give waivers" to black letter laws that make no mention of the ability of the executive branch to contemplate a waiver.

and of course the Auto bail-out where he stole from bond holders and gave billions to the UAW; 5/19/13, 7:46 AM
MadisonMan said...: I'm skeptical.; 5/19/13, 7:52 AM
Anonymous said...: Then we have recess appointments :)

lastly, there is the pedally of this attractive misdirection: The scandals of the Nixon administration that followed resulted in the IRS becoming an independent enforcement agency

The President appoints the head of the IRS, (to a fixed term) and the law gives no conditions on his ability to fire the Commissioner. Further the IRS clearly deports to the Deputy Treasury Secretary, a POTUS appointee and is overseen by the Treasury headquarters.; 5/19/13, 7:52 AM
Almost Ali said...: Expect nothing less from the fellow traveler Laurence Tribe, always the commie pimp.

Has Tribe ever been on the right side of an issue, any issue?; 5/19/13, 7:53 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: (1) I'm somewhat surprised that a scholar as accomplished as Professor Tribe would shill like that. One of William Shatner's rules to being like Shatner is to "Always say Yes." Perhaps Tribe is a fan.

(2) One of the rules for men's business attire used to be "Dress Like the President." I haven't noticed many men wearing one of those silver-blue neckties the president seems to favor. Maybe I should get out more.; 5/19/13, 7:53 AM
Brian Brown said...: What an absurd contention by Tribe; 5/19/13, 7:55 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/13, 7:55 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Fascism is a phenomenon of the Left, and always has been.

The only variable is the speed at which it moves along that spectrum, and whether they are stopped somewhere along the way.

That most people don't understand this simple truth is a testament to the effectiveness of the history re-writers and propagandists. The Left does have lots of those, and the Will to use them.; 5/19/13, 7:56 AM
KCFleming said...: "Still, Tribe expressed concern that Obama, himself a former law instructor, “is being a bit too much the constitutional lawyer in some of these matters and not enough the ordinary citizen"

Gaah!

The dulcet tones of Harvard bullshit cover even monstrous behaviors.

It has infected every authority in society. No one speaks the truth. All official communications are bullshit, and everyone knows it.

We pretend Tribe is actually saying something meaningful, and maybe he actually believes he is, but it is all twaddle.

And since the newspapers and TV largely function as broadcasters for PR press statements, they serve no function at all.

Quite a time we live in, surrounded by bullshit.
Will no one speak English anymore, ever?; 5/19/13, 7:58 AM
poppa india said...: I think Tribe is still hoping for a seat on theSupreme Court.; 5/19/13, 7:58 AM
poppa india said...: I think Tribe is still hoping for a seat on theSupreme Court.; 5/19/13, 8:02 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Obama is deeply aware if he gets the boot, Biden will take over. This is concerning to all Americans.

Nobody wants Biden taking over, which is why Obama chose Biden in the first place.; 5/19/13, 8:07 AM
gerry said...: He is lazy (plays golf and goes to fundraisers while citizens die at the hands of the nation's enemies), he lies (the Benghazi movie blame game), he steals (the UAW-GM-Chrysler bailout), wastes money (tax-funded millions in vacations for himself and his family), and slanders citizens and their motivations. He poisons politics.

Those are his fruits, and by them we know him.; 5/19/13, 8:16 AM
Unknown said...: Bullshit. But, to be fair, a particularly fine example of it.; 5/19/13, 8:21 AM
MayBee said...: Let's don't forget Obama ignoring the Warpowers. act to get us into Libya.

Ah we'll. Jodi Kantor told us about Tribe not making Obama do the work the other Harvard Law students had to do. They've always had a weird relationship.; 5/19/13, 8:22 AM
Anonymous said...: a fluid grip

Sweaty palms then? I'm not surprised.; 5/19/13, 8:23 AM
MayBee said...: Besides, why would Obama have raised the debt ceiling without congress? What would he have benefitted? Nothing. Which is why he didn't do it.; 5/19/13, 8:24 AM
yashu said...: to the limit

Pedal to the metal.; 5/19/13, 8:31 AM
Mogget said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/13, 8:34 AM
Gahrie said...: President Obama clearly believes in the rule of man, not the rule of law.; 5/19/13, 8:35 AM
Mogget said...: fluid grip?

Giving rise to the image of a slippery character?; 5/19/13, 8:36 AM
Anonymous said...: He reserves the non-fluid grip for his 9-iron.; 5/19/13, 8:41 AM
chickelit said...: The Drill SGT said...

I wasn't impressed either by the two examples of his light hand on the rudder of state.

And yet there is a deft hand on the udder of state, giving suck to those in need while ignoring replenishment of the source. This troubles me.; 5/19/13, 8:42 AM
Titus said...: The best news about all these scandals is Michelle Bachman is back on the tele.

I love her and missed her.

tits and thanks.; 5/19/13, 8:43 AM
madAsHell said...: Money shot!!
I hope it doesn't leave a permanent stain!!; 5/19/13, 8:47 AM
chickelit said...: Titus wrote I love her and missed her.

I admire Bachman for the reasons you despise her, Titus.; 5/19/13, 8:47 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Bullshit. Obama and his mobsters are tyrannical fascists.; 5/19/13, 8:49 AM
Robert Zaleski said...: Wow, people still buy this BS.... it just saddens me how far gone Leftists have gone. I mean the first time, yeah I understood... But the second time, and after the SHTF... really??? A mormon was really that bad? I mean, you're open minded about Muslims right? Oh, that's right, he worked hard, made deals, and got rich... ahhh... but all of Obama's friends are rich?; 5/19/13, 8:56 AM
MayBee said...: Tribe's early Obama shilling:
“I thought of him much more as a colleague” than a student, said Laurence Tribe, a law professor at Harvard for whom Mr. Obama worked. “I didn’t think of him as someone to send out on mechanical tasks of digging out all the cases.” Other students could do that, Professor Tribe added.

Althouse; 5/19/13, 9:03 AM
bleh said...: He's so smart and thoughtful and careful. We're so lucky to have him. If only he were less respectful of his opponents and our constitutional system of government he could really accomplish something.

I swear, if there were more "liberals" in this country we would have a fascist dictatorship directing every decision we make.; 5/19/13, 9:04 AM
Unknown said...: BDNYC

Thank providence we've been spared that!; 5/19/13, 9:09 AM
edutcher said...: Yes, he's so "deeply concerned ... that his office . . . never violate its primary duty to abide by the Constitution’s checks and balances" that he keeps fantasizing about being a dictator.

It's also why he does all those end runs around Congress and why he ignores all those Federal court orders.

Just goes to show you a Haavahd law degree is no sign of intelligence.; 5/19/13, 9:34 AM
RichardS said...: When did Progressives start supporting checks and balances? Back to Woodwow Wilson's major works, Progressives have denounced the "Newtonian" mechanics of our constitution, as a constraint upon efficient "scientifif" administration.

If Progressives really were concerned about checks and balances, they would be more concerned about the delegation of legislative authority to the bureaucracy. Nowadays, the same bureaucrats often write the legal code, enforce it, and judge violations of it.; 5/19/13, 9:39 AM
Michael K said...: At least TRibe didn't call him "former law professor."; 5/19/13, 9:46 AM
Rusty said...: Nobody wants Biden taking over, which is why Obama chose Biden in the first place.

Are you kidding?
It would be awesome! Every press conference a SNL skit.; 5/19/13, 9:50 AM
Roger J. said...: Agree with Rusty--Biden as POTUS would be a major laugh factory.; 5/19/13, 10:13 AM
Big Mike said...: The article is in the top center of the front page of today's Post. I couldn't get past the 1st paragraph without risking losing my breakfast.; 5/19/13, 10:27 AM
Paul said...: "Obama "is deeply concerned both that his office... never violate its primary duty to abide by the Constitution’s checks and balances...""

Hahahahahaha... oh what a joke. But really in a way he is right. Obama may 'abide' by the checks and balances but that does NOT mean he didn't break a bunch of laws and disenfranchised the voting public, not to mention spied on them.

But the jokes will be on Obama in the coming weeks. And they will not be so funny.; 5/19/13, 10:40 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Fascism is a phenomenon of the Left, and always has been."

Then what is authoritarianism on the right called?; 5/19/13, 11:23 AM
Petunia said...: Gawd, what a load of crappity crap crap. The WaPo comments are particularly pathetic. There really are a lot of stupid people out there, and the majority of Obama supporters are just that...stupid.; 5/19/13, 11:28 AM
Steve Koch said...: "Fascism is a phenomenon of the Left, and always has been."

Cook said:
"Then what is authoritarianism on the right called?"

Don't know. Constitutional conservatism is the core belief for most gop voters, i.e. limited federal power constrained by the constitution. Constitutional conservatism is inherently anti authoritarian.

Fascism was invented by Mussolini when he lost hope in conventional class struggle oriented socialism as a political winner in Italy. Mussolini felt that a socialism that utilized racism and patriotism to inflame Italians would be more powerful than conventional class oriented socialism. He called this new, even more virulent form of socialism "national socialism" (whose followers were called Nazis in Germany).; 5/19/13, 11:39 AM
MarkD said...: Translation: I deeply regret that you noticed my lies.; 5/19/13, 11:53 AM
Steve Koch said...: The "national" in National socialism was cuz the nazis relied on nationalism to galvanize their supporters.; 5/19/13, 11:55 AM
ricpic said...: While Congress was in session Obama made interim appointments with the rationalization that congress was in recess and Larry has to know that and therefore has to know that he's lying but anything for the cause.; 5/19/13, 11:56 AM
Steve Koch said...: Another hacktastic statement by Tribe, further eroding his credibility and stature. I guess now that he is too old for the supreme court, he feels more comfortable being an obvious hacktivist.; 5/19/13, 12:01 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Fascism is a phenomenon of the Left, and always has been."

"'Cook said:
'Then what is authoritarianism on the right called?'

"Don't know."

I'm glad you didn't try to say "there is no such thing," as you would have demonstrated intellectual dishonesty with such an answer.

The generally accepted answer is: fascism.

I think that's not necessarily solely true, as fascism is the aggrandizement by itself of the state, and this is neither strictly left or right, but is simply the culmination of the will to power, which exists in all forms of state organization.

Position in the political spectrum

from the linked article:

Fascism is commonly described as "extreme right"[34][35] although some writers have found placing fascism on a conventional left-right political spectrum difficult.[36][37][38][39][40] Fascism was influenced by both left and right, conservative and anti-conservative, national and supranational, rational and anti-rational.[38] A number of historians have regarded fascism either as a revolutionary centrist doctrine, as a doctrine which mixes philosophies of the left and the right, or as both of those things.[39][40] Fascism was founded during World War I by Italian national syndicalists who combined left-wing and right-wing political views.

Fascism is considered by certain scholars to be right-wing because of its social conservatism and authoritarian means of opposing egalitarianism.[41][42] Roderick Stackleberg places fascism—including Nazism, which he says is "a radical variant of fascism"—on the right, explaining that "the more a person deems absolute equality among all people to be a desirable condition, the further left he or she will be on the ideological spectrum. The more a person considers inequality to be unavoidable or even desirable, the further to the right he or she will be."[43]

Italian Fascism gravitated to the right in the early 1920s.[44][45] A major element of fascism that has been deemed as clearly far-right is its goal to promote the right of claimed superior people to dominate while purging society of claimed inferior elements.[46]; 5/19/13, 12:09 PM
Chip S. said...: I had simply assumed that the linked article was an op-ed piece, but it turns out to be a "news" article in the "politics" section of the WaPo. And the theme of the article is the inexplicable tendency for Obama to shy away from deploying his full powers!

This may be the key part:

And at key moments, Obama has opted against power plays. In the 2011 debt-ceiling fight, Obama ruled out unilaterally raising the country’s borrowing limit even though some constitutional scholars [unnamed], as well as many of his political allies [apparently not a majority of them, or we'd have been told that], believed doing so was well within his authority.

Behold your new Constitution, citizens! The president's authority is defined by the opinions of some "constitutional scholars" and many of the president's political allies.

How can anyone not be appalled by this...news?; 5/19/13, 12:25 PM
ken in tx said...: Since high school, I have considered Nazism, Fascism, and Communism as points on a circle, not points on a line. They are all pretty close together at the bottom of the circle, in my mind. They are all collectivists.; 5/19/13, 1:24 PM
Hyphenated American said...: "Italian Fascism gravitated to the right in the early 1920s.[44][45] A major element of fascism that has been deemed as clearly far-right is its goal to promote the right of claimed superior people to dominate while purging society of claimed inferior elements."

I guess the "historians" did not pay attention to what the far left were doing, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, pol pot. Or we can re-read Karl Marx and find out how he despised Eastern Europeans and blacks. And surely no one remembers that Mussolini became famous as an extreme left-winger, warmly embraced by Vladimir Lenin himself.

If only historians spent time learning history, instead of wasting energy promoting left-wing myths.; 5/19/13, 1:25 PM
Steve Koch said...: Cook:
"I'm glad you didn't try to say "there is no such thing," as you would have demonstrated intellectual dishonesty with such an answer."

Glad I didn't do that. Your response was stupid and cowardly, you invent a hypothetical example of intellectual dishonesty on my part, typical lefty argumentation. Shameful and pathetic actually.

Read up on Mussolini, he started the Fascists, he invented fascism, he was a socialist/marxist, his father was a socialist/marxist. He left the Italian communist party cuz he felt class struggle oriented socialism/communism had no future in Italy but might work if he added nationalism and rascism to the mix.

Saying that fascism or national socialism are right wing movements is an example of the big lie, a specialty of lefty pols. Repeating a big lie frequently does not make it true.

You have embarrassed yourself in this thread. You refuse to learn.; 5/19/13, 1:33 PM
Theranter said...: http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecoveryData/Pages/Recipient.aspx?duns=047006379
Your$ JUST from "recovery" $ to mr tribe's institution.; 5/19/13, 1:42 PM
Chip S. said...: Obama is "deeply concerned..."

OMG, I just realized this means we have a concern troll for our president.; 5/19/13, 2:22 PM
Andy Freeman said...: > Has Tribe ever been on the right side of an issue, any issue?

He wanted to argue for Heller before the Supremes but they turned him down. He then wrote a law review article denouncing individual right interpretation.

So, he could have gotten half-credit for effort but threw it away.; 5/19/13, 2:45 PM
Andy Freeman said...: > A major element of fascism that has been deemed as clearly far-right is its goal to promote the right of claimed superior people to dominate while purging society of claimed inferior elements.

While eugenics may have been "deemed" far-right by the clueless, eugenics, ethnic cleansing, and the like has always had much higher priority among the left.

When leftists fight, as they always do, they always call each other right-wing, so the fact that leftists call Hitler "right wing" just means that he's an enemy. That namecalling tells you nothing about whether he governed from the left or right. We look at his policies and we see that he was a leftist.

The left's biggest beef with Hitler is that he gave their favorite idea, eugenics, a bad name.

If he'd beaten Russia and put Germany into the position that the USSR found itself, they'd still be singing his praises.; 5/19/13, 2:54 PM
Chip S. said...: So let's just distinguish b/w fascism and caudillismo and shake hands.; 5/19/13, 3:02 PM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Robert Cook said...
"Fascism is a phenomenon of the Left, and always has been."

"'Cook said:
'Then what is authoritarianism on the right called?'

"Don't know."

I'm glad you didn't try to say "there is no such thing,"

Then I'll say it. There is no such thing, except in the propaganda fever dreams of Leftists creating bright shiny objects to distract and obfuscate.

The very definition of The Right includes a hobbled (checks and balance) and stunted central Government, in order to promote maximum personal Liberty and minimize the chance of a central Tyranny.

Any administration that might start out Right, becomes Leftist the moment they seek to consolidate and empower The State, regardless of the purpose. An all-powerful State, is the essence of the Left.

If you don't understand that simple Truth, then you can only be declaring on such a non-sequitur as Rightist Fascism by simply, 1984-ishly, redefining up as down, peace as war, etc.

And are probably doing so, as, realizing that "Fascism is always Leftist" just shakes your world View too much to bear.

I sympathize, but things like this happen when you make Truth your North Star.; 5/19/13, 3:59 PM
Robert Cook said...: Someonehastosayit...

Tsk, tsk, tsk.; 5/19/13, 4:02 PM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Robert Cook said...
Someonehastosayit...

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

How eloquent.

But, when you've nothing else . . .; 5/19/13, 4:04 PM
Ralph L said...: I haven't noticed many men wearing one of those silver-blue neckties the president seems to favor
I believe they're designed to make his lips look less purple. If he wore the common red power tie, it would accentuate that problem.

But then, W wore a lot of blue ties, too.; 5/19/13, 5:49 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Ann, before I read on, that really is one awesomely bad hed. "Fluid grip on the levers of power" suggests at best tentacles, at worst some sort of giant amoeba. And also suggests that there are "levers of power," and his best defense is that, hey, they were there, but he never touched 'em.; 5/19/13, 6:00 PM
Scientific Socialist said...: Funny, Obama's always talking about how "messy" is our democracy and "folks who gum up the works" (i.e. House Republicans)making his job more difficult than it should be. Seems like there should be song about that. How about "If I Only Were a King" (sung to the melody of "If I Only Had a Brain" from The Wizard of Oz)?; 5/19/13, 6:11 PM
Hyphenated American said...: Speaking of fascism, is Castro left-wing or right-wing? What about Egyptian socialist Abel Nasser, or Venezuela's Chavez and argentia's Peron? There is little doubt that all of the above we're/a fascist, and yet all of them are of the left.; 5/19/13, 8:17 PM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Hyphenated American said...
Speaking of fascism, is Castro left-wing or right-wing? What about Egyptian socialist Abel Nasser, or Venezuela's Chavez and argentia's Peron? There is little doubt that all of the above we're/a fascist, and yet all of them are of the left.

Yup.

Fascism and Socialism. Each better together.

Like peanut butter and chocolate.; 5/19/13, 10:29 PM
X said...: love how cookie thinks communism and fascism are so different. they are more like sunni and shiite, variations on a theme, than matter and anti-matter.

libertarianism and communism however are like matter and anti-matter, hence the reason leftists heads explode when presented with freedom.; 5/20/13, 9:38 AM
Sam L. said...: Can't believe THAT for a femtosecond!; 5/20/13, 12:25 PM