Syria: Obama wants War, defers to Constitution.

The United States Constitution is clear that Congress is the only body that has the power to enact war. Then in 1973, Congress passed and was signed into law legislation commonly known as the War Powers Act which gave the President limited powers to engaged American Armed Forces into conflict without prior Congressional approval.

The caveat to this lies in Sec 2 subset C:

The constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.

Today, President Obama came out to announce that after seeing the evidence - yesterday presented by
Secretary of State John Kerry - that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had crossed the line in using chemical weapons against his own people. The United Nations earlier today held a press conference that discussed the time table of the assessing the samples taken from Syria in regards to the use of chemical weapons. Now, the UN Inspector did state that the results will in no manner determine who used chemical weapons; rather it will simply confirm the use of the chemical weapons.

In his address today, President Obama made it clear he is prepared to go to war despite the fact that he wouldn't put "boots on the ground" or it wouldn't be "an open time table." Trouble is Mr. President that you don't have the power to engage Syria on your own. The War Powers Act, see above, is very clear that an imminent danger or a national emergency exists that will result in an attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions or armed forces.

That said, Syria is not a colony of the United States nor do we have armed forces on the ground there either. While the use of chemical weapons appears conclusive the deliverer of those weapons is still open for debate. I know some will point to the evidence that Secretary of State Kerry spoke about the other day but we must look at the Arab League source with a grain of salt.

I applaud President Obama for finally recalling his Constitutional law classes  when he said, "under the Constitution, the responsibility to declare war lies with Congress." I also agree with President Obama that the use of chemical weapons on ones own people is an "assault on human dignity." But I don't agree with, "It also presents a serious danger to our national security. It risks making a mockery of the global prohibition on the use of chemical weapons." Why is that many in the East, namely the Middle East, hate the West and namely the United States? Because we use our imperial might to right wrongs that WE feel exist.

No one will deny the use of chemical weapons is bad. The trouble is that Syria is mired in a Civil War and with war comes a natural "assault on human dignity". As Gen. Patton famously coined, "War is Hell!" Now, the United States should do everything diplomatically that we can to help bring an end to the Civil War; diplomatically not military.

Reactions on MSNBC after the speech today had a number of people surprised that President Obama would defer to Congress. It is President Obama's Constitutional duty to defer to Congress. Now the question is: What will President Obama do if Congress doesn't give him authority to engage in war?


**** I had to revise my original post to replace Vice President Biden with Secretary of State Kerry - I was watching the reply when typing with VP Biden in the background. I apologize for the oversight. ***

The Final Debate of 2012

Last night the Presidential debates saw some competition with the NLCS in game 7 and the Lions visiting the Bears; okay no one really tuned into the football game unless you were in those markets. The debate moderated by Bob Schieffer was on foreign policy - or on Middle East policy. Much of the debate stationed itself in the Middle East dealing with the fallout from the Libya embassy attack, the threat of a nuclear Iran, the devastation in Syria and how to back our ally Israel in the area.

While there was a brief entanglement on China, there was very little discussion of foreign policy outside of the Middle East. I do agree that the unstable nature of the Middle East poses a threat to World Peace, there is a lot more going on that the next President of the United States will need to address. Namely the economy.

The United States makes up 5% of the world population yet we consume nearly 35% of the worlds goods and resources. Countries like Russia, India, Brazil and China are seeing their middle class exploding as we did back in the 50's. Combine that will a United States economy that is slowing to a growth rate of 1.3%, our government needs to assist businesses located here in trade abroad. I know many of you are wondering how can a small government person look to the Federal government to assist business in trade outside of the United States.

It is simple. The role of the Federal government is to be that buffer in trade with foreign nations along with providing a solid infrastructure, security of private property, and settle disputes between the States. Outside of that, the Federal government needs to step out of the way and allow the States to deal with other issues of the day. But I digress.

A number of polling done after the debate has President Obama beating Governor Romney but as the commentary went along the question rose - Will the performance move the needle back to President Obama as Governor Romney had gain a lot of momentum from the first debate?

With two weeks left we will find out the answer to that question. The other observation from last night's debate was the masterful pivot that Governor Romney made from the extreme Right wing aspect of his base to the center. The pivot is similar to the one that Governor Clinton made during his campaign against President Bush. Two weeks to go and it will be interesting to see where the money is being spent and the places the candidates visit.

To those that live in states that will are already decided, when you go to the poll to vote find another candidate other than the major two to cast your die for that more closely aligns with your ideals. By doing this you will potentially give that third or fourth party increased status and we may just be able to end the gridlock in Washington D.C.