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US Presidents on Presidential Power

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the stuff-to-think-about dept.

Tod Landis writes "Responding to George Bush's statement that he will preserve executive power for his "predecessors", I've assembled a collection of quotes from those predecessors. Most saw executive power differently..."

10 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. So let me get this straight... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting


    politics.slashdot.org = Bush Bashing?

    Smooth. :-/

  2. Ok, even I have to cry "Lefty" on this one by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What, has slashdot become so anti-Bush that we're taking plain text documents written by the submitter as "news" in the politics section now?

    While I admit this is a good resource, the predecessor mistake was *YEARS* ago- this is hardly new or any more relevant than yet another "Bush is an idiot" post. Those of us who care about intelligence in a president already know Bush is an idiot- those who don't care just like the fact that they've got a president with the same intelligence and learning disabilities that they have. This issue isn't going to change anybody's vote one way or the other.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    1. Re:Ok, even I have to cry "Lefty" on this one by u-238 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      It's hard not to look quiet when in contrast your opposition are literally flooding streets, blocking traffic, making death threats, covering their cars with more bumper stickers than there is paint, using Hollywood stardom to pump inept political messages, and so on and so on.

      It's mostly the people who mind their own business and go to work every day who are voting Bush.

  3. See what extremism (liberal or conservative) does? by Fished · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A confused George Bush once said "I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for my predecessors as well". Here is a sampler of what those predecessors had to say about the war powers.

    And I have gone to the trouble of examining each quote only to find it misapplied.

    "The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until they shall have deliberated upon the subject, and authorized such a measure. " George Washington

    You mean that Bush should have ... gotten congressional authority before he went to war? You mean ... like he did in Iraq and Afghanistan?

    "Congress must be called upon to take [reprisal on a nation]; the right of reprisal being expressly lodged with them by the Constitution, and not with the Executive". Thomas Jefferson

    "You mean that Bush should have ... gotten congressional authority before he went to war? You mean ... like he did in Iraq and Afghanistan?"

    "Whether the United States shall continue passive under these progressive usurpations and these accumulating wrongs, or, opposing force to force in defense of their national rights, shall commit a just cause into the hands of the Almighty Disposer of Events ... is a solemn question which the Constitution wisely confides to the legislative department of the Government" James Madison

    "You mean that Bush should have ... gotten congressional authority before he went to war? You mean ... like he did in Iraq and Afghanistan?"

    "Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems in necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure." Abraham Lincoln

    "You mean that Bush should have ... gotten congressional authority before he went to war? You mean ... like he did in Iraq and Afghanistan?"

    "By an act of war, committed with the participation of a diplomatic representative of the United States and without authority of Congress, the Government of a feeble but friendly and confiding people has been overthrown. A substantial wrong has thus been done..." Grover Cleveland

    "You mean that Bush should have ... gotten congressional authority before he went to war? You mean ... like he did in Iraq and Afghanistan?"

    "The remedy for this state of things can only be supplied by Congress, since the Constitution has confided to that body alone the power to make war." James Buchanan

    "You mean that Bush should have ... gotten congressional authority before he went to war? You mean ... like he did in Iraq and Afghanistan?"

    "The issue [of war with Spain] is now with the Congress. ... Prepared to execute every obligation imposed upon me by the Constitution and the law, I await your action" William McKinley

    "You mean that Bush should have ... gotten congressional authority before he went to war? You mean ... like he did in Iraq and Afghanistan?"

    "The assumption by the press that I contemplate intervention in Mexico soil to protect American lives is of course gratuitous, because I seriously doubt whether I have such authority under any circumstances, and if I had I would not exercise it without congressional approval" Howard Taft

    "You mean that Bush should have ... gotten congressional authority before he went to war? You mean ... like he did in Iraq and Afg

    --
    "He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
  4. Maybe He Meant Something Else? by gwynnebaer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Despite my consummate dislike for Bush (Sr, Jr, whatever), I don't read the same "Bushism" into his statement. You have to consider that Presidents, whether in power or out of power, have quite a lot of executive protection that extends well past their term(s) in office. I suggest that perhaps Bush was simply stating that he intended to protect these extended post-term executive powers. This is actually a fairly common statement, since the current president would want the same treatment once he/she is no longer in office.

  5. Re:uh, one small detail concerning your quotes... by Jahf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just because "Congress still has" the right doesn't change the fact that before the (never declared) Korean war the Congress was the -only- body that could do so.

    Since Truman involved the US in the Korean war, presidents have simply bypassed the intent of the Constitution by no officially declaring war. Instead they invoke military police actions or similar.

    The War Powers act in 1973 tried to change this, but so far the legality and constitutionality of both has not changed.

    Fact of the matter is, before 1950 it was assumed that -only- Congress could declare war. Since 1950 it has been assumed that declaring war is red tape and can be bypassed.

    --
    It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
  6. WTF? by Experiment+626 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Okay, so there's a bunch of quotes from previous United States Presidents about how the president can only send troops to war if Congress has approved such military action.

    Exactly as they did in the case of Iraq.

    As one Senator in particular put it, in a September 2002 New York times op-ed, "If Saddam Hussein is unwilling to bend to the international community's already existing order, then he will have invited enforcement... even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act."

    On October 11, that Senator voted to authorize military action in Iraq. A majority of his colleagues on Capitol Hill did likewise, and Congress passed the measure authorizing Bush to use military force in Iraq. The Constitutional process was followed, just as the elder statesmen in the article would have had it.

    As for the Senator quoted above, he later began to wildly flip-flop on the issue, and several others, in an attempt to stake out political ground for a Presidential bid. His name is John Kerry.

  7. Re:Call for civility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    You are a NAZI!

    How's that?

    ;)

  8. No by Rufus88 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ALWAYS preface your opinions with "It is my opinion that..." or "I feel that...".
    Not "I feel that...". Rather, "I think that". Opinions are not feelings. Emotions are feelings. People say "I feel that..." when they know their opinions are on shaky ground, because people don't have to justify "feelings". You're entitled to feel however you want to about something and there's no wrong way to "feel". But thoughts and opinions can be disputed and shown to be wrong, so people try to let their thoughts off the hook, and make them not subject to dispute, by calling them "feelings". It's a cop-out. You can say "I feel happy", or "I feel angry", but if you start off saying "I feel that", chances are that you're trying to disguise your belief as an impugnable feeling.

  9. I'm with you on this issue by sevinkey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    We need to re-instate congress into the war approval process. The reason the executive branch has been able to use this power since WWII is because no president has been punished for its abuse. I'm not saying that we should punish this president for going into war, as we had plenty of precident to use force without a declaration of war, but perhaps this country needs to look into stiffer punishments for presidents who use force without declarations of war.