The Constitution is, in my mind, rather simple in its description of the duties on the President of the United States: aside from nominating persons for government service and Commanding Chiefly (armed forces), taking "Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" and addressing Congess on the State of the Union, the only job he swears to fulfill is to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." Treaties and pardons are options.
The connections between Congressional service (with partisan idealogies) and later Presidential tenure have warped the distinction of the separate branches of government. I do not claim to understand much of what Washington or Jefferson or Adams advocated. I do not know how much they fell into party lines. I would rather think well of them. Still, the past two administration have taken an active role in the origination, support, drafting, and momentum of laws, and, in the later administration, the injection of politics into Justice nominee Kagan, which are outside of its prerogative.
Most noticeable of late has been ObamaCare regulation, which have highlighted state kickbacks and a very aggressive White House in the process, and of course Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination preparation (more like thick make-up liberally applied). Presidential intrusion into Congressional rights due to situations "too important" to wait for bipartisan debate is not new, but the Supreme Court prep is. Past preparation for nominees have been conducted by the Justice Department, yet Kagan has has weeks of grooming by administration officials. This is most worrisome, for the Supreme Court has been considered a place from which party politics should be far removed.
Benevolent or no, the blending of separate branches destroys American safeguards against what the Country was founded for- freedom from despotism and monarchy. Vying for power, Republicans will do likewise, seeking to choke out an opposing voice (as did Democrats to pass Health Care Reform). Debate is for those who cannot win the House and Senate. I fear the bloom of our Constitution will be the first casualty, and at the hands of party weeds.
(Sources are the NYPost http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/final_reform_push_0pwRMzHMNshlHQZg8LWmcJ and NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127095542)
What I thought was interesting about the new justice is that her sexual orientation was not brought up. A case that may soon come before her is the case against Prop 8 which was recently overturned by a judge with the same sexual orientation as Kegan. The other interesting thing about Prop 8 being overturned is that one person can void the votes of 7,000,000 citizens.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the president should not be writing or pushing legislation, that is congresses job.