In this article we can see a way to remind President Obama of the ever-vigilant position into which--as do all presidents do--he has fallen: the notion that presidents must take expansive power positions on executive actions. Although I am not afraid of President Obama's use of this expansive view of executive power, I do think that the other branches must keep him honest, lest he fall into the same trap as recent well (and not-so-well) intentioned presidents.
Because running our government is so hard to do alone and because it is even harder to do in conjunction with Congress, presidents who are itching to get control over the torrent of issues before them have a constant need to find quick ways to do it. And so, like President Obama on detention issues, they tend to find the quickest, easiest, and most effective methods within the area of executive powers. This is also the most dangerous trap for them. So, even though these Bush-appointed judges are born-again Madisonians, at least they serve to remind the Obama Administration that they should try to resist this overwhelming temptation to take democratic shortcuts.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Okay, Let's Learn From Our Past Mistakes
Although I am as tempted as anyone to focus my time and energy on the recent sex scandals of Republicans, let me remind you all that as we bow to the temptation to obsess over Governor Sanford, the language coming out of North Korea is genuinely frightening. We need to be paying attention to what is important, not what is, in the words of Joan Didion, political pornography.
Fifteen years ago I taught a course in political psychology and had students profile a world leader. One of my best students did Kim Jong-Il, the son of the founder of the PRK, Kim Il-Sung (who, by the way, died fifteen years ago, but serves as "Eternal President"). Even in 1995, there were clear indications that Kim Il-Jong was insane, possibly from the long-term effects of syphilis. His actions defy rationality when using common sense standards. North Korea's threat to bring a "shower" of nuclear weapons in a military confrontation is--far and away--a more important news story than anything Mark Sanford could do, say or write.
Now is the time for all of us to engage in "grown-up politics" and ignore the trivial to focus on the dire. Fortunately, I do think that most of the people in Washington who do the important work (and, since the media have stopped covering those who work for those who entertain, this work goes unnoticed) are not neglecting the important tasks, but there is a danger that politicians will be forced to divert their time to meaningless things, to the detriment of the nation.
If we wish to learn from history, we need only look to the mess in the former Yugoslavia in the late 1990s, when Bob Dole visited the White House after returning from a trip to negotiate a peace and Clinton spent the whole visit asking Dole about his impending Senate trial for lying about his sexual misconduct. One could make the argument that thousands of people (yes, non-Americans count as people) died because Clinton was distracted from the crisis.
Fifteen years ago I taught a course in political psychology and had students profile a world leader. One of my best students did Kim Jong-Il, the son of the founder of the PRK, Kim Il-Sung (who, by the way, died fifteen years ago, but serves as "Eternal President"). Even in 1995, there were clear indications that Kim Il-Jong was insane, possibly from the long-term effects of syphilis. His actions defy rationality when using common sense standards. North Korea's threat to bring a "shower" of nuclear weapons in a military confrontation is--far and away--a more important news story than anything Mark Sanford could do, say or write.
Now is the time for all of us to engage in "grown-up politics" and ignore the trivial to focus on the dire. Fortunately, I do think that most of the people in Washington who do the important work (and, since the media have stopped covering those who work for those who entertain, this work goes unnoticed) are not neglecting the important tasks, but there is a danger that politicians will be forced to divert their time to meaningless things, to the detriment of the nation.
If we wish to learn from history, we need only look to the mess in the former Yugoslavia in the late 1990s, when Bob Dole visited the White House after returning from a trip to negotiate a peace and Clinton spent the whole visit asking Dole about his impending Senate trial for lying about his sexual misconduct. One could make the argument that thousands of people (yes, non-Americans count as people) died because Clinton was distracted from the crisis.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Check out this quote from Maureen Dowd in her column in the New York Times today.
"What a relief to have an urbane, cultivated, curious president who’s out and about, engaged in the world. Not dangerously detached, as W. was, or darkly stewing like Cheney. Not hanging with the Rat Pack like J.F.K. or getting bored and up to mischief like Bill Clinton."
I could not have said it better!
"What a relief to have an urbane, cultivated, curious president who’s out and about, engaged in the world. Not dangerously detached, as W. was, or darkly stewing like Cheney. Not hanging with the Rat Pack like J.F.K. or getting bored and up to mischief like Bill Clinton."
I could not have said it better!
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