Unconstitutional Decision

I have never in my life voted for the reelection of a President who started a war, even when he did it with the “prior authorization” of Congress. I am not going to change my policy for a President who starts a war which was not in the interest of this nation and who did so without any pretense of authorization of Congress.

Actually, I think the people who are saying that he has committed an impeachable offense are not without some validity. Under the constitution of this nation, the President is not authorized to start military action abroad, which is war even when you don’t call it that, without Congress.

The President presented a letter to Congress in accordance with the War Powers Resolution which he uses as a basis for beginning this new war, but that legislative act authorizes the President to act only “if the United States is already under attack or serious threat.” In this letter Obama claims threat to America by means of a thread of logic that amounts to sheer jackassery.

You can read it for yourself, but it amounts to a) Gadhaffi might defeat the rebels and if he does b) neighboring states might be flooded with refugees which would c) “destabilize the region” in some undefined manner which would d) “jeopardize the national security” of the United States in a manner which he does not spell out.

I hope he is gathering troops to attack the bogeyman under the bed.

At a time when we are desperate to provide funding for the needs of our own people Obama chooses to start spending $1 billion or so fighting a new war against an “enemy” who is about as dangerous to us as a paper clip, with no clearly stated reason for doing so other than that he is taking a madman’s ranting about “killing vermin” at face value, without the support of most of the world’s major nations, with no clearly stated purpose or goal, and with no end game other than a vague promise that we will “turn over the lead role soon.” No decision has been made as to who we are going to turn it over to, or what our remaining role will be.

Additionally, he says that the turn over date will be “determined by our military commanders,” abdicating his responsibility as President and Commander in Chief. The lead of a combined military operation is a policy decision and is not properly left to the military. If he cannot make that decision and has to delegate it to military officers then he is incompetent.

And as has become normal in Washington, we have different people in the White House, in Congress and in the military saying different and conflicting things about what we are doing, why we are doing it and how we are going to get it done. Obama has never been able to keep all of the people in his team on the same page.

Obama will not be opposed by any other Democrat, so I will either vote for a Republican for president in 2012 or I will not vote for that office at all, which will be a first for me.