With midterm elections right around
the corner in November, congressional campaign managers on both sides of the
aisle are going to have to do some serious rhetoric tweaking now that President
Obama has firmly and authoritatively placed the extermination of ISIL (aka ISIS)
front and center in the minds of the American electorate. Congressmen in hotly
contested seats around the country will be scrambling to put their domestic agenda
further back in their talking points and figure out if their constituency wants them to stand with
or against the President.
As Commander in Chief of the Army
and Navy, Obama doesn't necessarily need the approval of Congress to take
military action; that authority is implied with the rank. The title would be
meaningless otherwise. The Constitution expressly grants the legislative branch
the power to wage war, and the 1973 War Powers Act plugged up any loopholes
that had been exploited by many a president up until that time (The
Constitution hadn't stipulated that only Congress
can declare war). President Obama can simply invoke his responsibility to
protect the safety and well being of the American people. Tradition holds that
no one in Congress wants to be the one holding the bag if the President turns
out to be right or has a public mandate in current matters martial. At least
that's what Obama is banking on. Historically, though, these things turn out to
be a whole lot messier than that.
Congress is going to want to be
courted. Technically Obama has only sixty days to accomplish his mission before
he will need congressional approval.
Also, they know that the means for funding such a war (or military operation if
we must put a fine point on it), go through Capitol Hill, and that the public
approval ratings for such a campaign can easily be tipped unfavorably against
the will of a President bent on being a Maverick. Many of Obama's most vocal
critics, however, a cadre of self-styled
war hawks which includes among others Sen. John McCain of Arizona and N.Y. Rep.
Peter King, seriously miscalculated in the days leading up to the speech,
calling Obama's initial response to the threat "weak, " and
"tepid."
Apparently, Obama doesn't like being picked on, and his speech tonight
more than rebuffed his attackers. In asking for bipartisan support from the
Hill during tonight's speech, the President wasn't showing up on the steps of
the Capitol building, hat in hand. On the contrary, his confident, direct,
assertive and well-organized approach was more like slapping Congress in the
face with his glove. It was as if he were saying, "My intention is to go
kick some terrorist ass who are despoiling the cradle of civilization, are you
coming with? Oh, and by the way, good luck with those midterm elections."
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