Sunday, June 19, 2011

Flying The Colors

Even Sen. Al Franken is saying President Obama needs to obtain a vote from Congress authorizing the use of force in Libya, and given the NY Times story that the DoJ and DoD advised the President to do just that but that he ignored their advice, I'm having serious trouble seeing how the President can go on with the status quo here.

"We're going to have to vote," Franken said shortly after his speech to the Netroots Nation crowd gathered here in his home state Saturday.

In an explosive article Friday, the New York Times reported that Obama overruled Justice Department advice that continuing the war in Libya without congressional authority was illegal. Asked about the story, Franken said he rejected the president's reported reasoning behind overruling his own legal team.

"I disagree with his take on it," Franken said. "I understand what his take is, which is that we don't have any troops on the ground, we are -- you know, whatever it is, I don't agree with it."

In the long term, Franken said, Congress must give Obama authorization to continue the war.

"The War Powers Act should be enforced," Franken said.

As if there wasn't enough on President Obama's plate right now, a healthy chunk of Congress, both left and right, feel like Obama is stepping all over their authority, and frankly he is.  The President's going to have to go hat in hand to Capitol Hill at some point very soon, or the House will make good on its threat to defund Libya at the very least.

Obama is on the wrong side of this one.

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