I pretend to no absolute objectivity, but dismissing ALL the comments as purely partisan rhetoric is misrepresentation.
Yes, Obama is vaccilating and passing the buck; pretty sure I already said that, point blank. That does not make Congressional Republicans any less transparently hypocritical when they blast him for doing they very thing they just spent months threatening to impeach him if he did NOT do.
Allow me to summarize about six months of US debate on whether to bomb Syria:
Obama: I do not have the balls to decide whether to do it or not.
Republicans: No problem; whichever you choose, it still proves you a bastard.
If that is not good enough because it does not blame Obama for everything and Republicans for nothing, we are at an impasse.
Talking points
"What the presient is getting criticized for now and always is being a Democrat. While I agree all presidents have constitutional authority as commander-in-chief to order combat without Congressional consent, Republicans calling for impeachment if any Democrat (and only a Democrat) does so disagree."
Because it is not true.
Clinton was impeached for the felony crime of perjury, not for any of the hundred or so military missions that he legally ordered. He was criticized for several of them (bombing an aspirin factory, which inspired the movie Wag the Dog is an example). Or for how he had the military missions prosecuted, Kosovo, Somalia & Yugoslavia (why can't we just stay out of other people's civil wars) among them; especially when he chose to subordinate US Military men to UN commanders and (and their INCREDIBLY stupid ROEs).
Okay, I grant Clinton faced no formal impeachment charges for military operations, but facing impeachment investigations for practically EVERYTHING ELSE illustrates my point. Not that I had his trial in mind (nor have any desire to rehash it,) but the House appointed a special prosecutor to investigate a real estate deal and found nothing, so was that the end of it? No; it simply went to investigating a consensual sexual relationship, then another when that investigation again found nothing criminal, then a third when that one ended the same way, before finally indicting Clinton for perjury allegedly committed in the final investigation.
So a 1994 investigation of early '80s events indicted Clinton for a 1998 event during the fourth and final investigation—and could not even convict him of that. The most he was ever found guilty of was misleading testimony, but perjury has a much higher standard of proof: Concealing the truth under oath is VERY different from knowingly and intentionally swearing falsehoods. That did not prevent Republicans spending FIVE YEARS trying every way they could find to impeach him, even if the only politician brought down was their own House Speaker AND his successor.
Congrats for respecting the Constitution; I wish all Republicans did, particularly those on the House floor suggesting or even urging impeachment over Benghazi, drones and anything else that comes to their minds. Obama left no one hanging in Benghazi; he just sent no more US personnel when news arrived of terrorism that had ALREADY killed our Benghazi consular staff. Blame for those deaths lies with the terrorists, and House Republicans who refused embassy security funding for TWO YEARS despite the president and Secy. of State begging them not to allow something like Benghazi. For a Republican Representative to respond to Benghazi by declaring embassy security a nonpriority but impeaching the president a valid response is hypocritically exploitive—yet typical.
There are not just some partisan extremists chanting in front of the White House, nor even a congressional loose cannon like Kucinich (I will not count McKinney since Democrats had the grace to expel her from the party; pity Republicans will not do the same with paranoid radicals.) One cannot simultaneously praise ones GOP Representative for pledges to block anything and everything Obama AND deny s/he has done just that. "It never happened and I am proud it did"?
Nope. Nobody, that I recall, called for his impeachment for not acting, Concern was voiced that he was going to ignore the war Powers resolution (Like he did with Libya) and not consult with Congress prior to beginning non-urgent offensive military actions. However, he could not be impeached for it, and everyone with 1/5th a brain knows it. The War Powers resolution is not enforceable, and exists as pure PR.
I agree it is not impeachable, but apparently Kucinich and the House GOP majority both lack even 1/5th of a brain (a sadly plausible charge:)
https://www.google.no/search?q=impeachment+syria+obama&oq=impeachment+syria+obama&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.4017j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Unless we decode a foreign communique like "Attack the US at dawn" need for preemptive strikes is always speculative and thus subjective, therefore including them in defensive combat makes the term "defensive" practically meaningless. Remember, the WPRs whole goal was prevent things like the Gulf of Tonkin as casus belli. The WPR is fine policy but, as you say, not legally worth the paper on which it is written, hence multiple presidents violated it multiple times with impunity. Reagan even did so in Libya just as Obama, but without criticism from Congressional Republicans OR DEMOCRATS, and certainly no suggestions of impeachment.
Clear enough?
Right; Congressional Republicans do not oppose anything and everything Obama attempts solely because HE attempts it, yet nobly do EXACTLY that.
Last word is yours if you like, because this is clearly going nowhere fast.
Last First in wotmania Chat
Slightly better than chocolate.
Love still can't be coerced.
Please Don't Eat the Newbies!
LoL. Be well, RAFOlk.