Obama First POTUS To Defy 'War Powers'

President Obama’s Libya Intervention Hits 60-Day Legal Limit

By JAKE TAPPER and DEVIN DWYER
May 20, 2011

The legal license President Obama used to justify U.S. military intervention in Libya expires today, and there’s little sign the White House is working quickly to get it renewed.

Actually, as we noted last week, the White House has proudly announced that they were simply going to ignore the War Powers law. They said they might try to find a "plausible theory" to get around the law.

But it’s clear now that they can’t even be bothered to do that. Even though the New York Times offered them several helpful suggestions.

Exactly two months ago, Obama notified Congress of his unilateral decision to engage in "limited military action" to help defend the Libyan people from attacks by their leader, Moammar Gadhafi.

But under federal law — the War Powers Resolution of 1973 — Obama is only allowed to keep U.S. forces engaged in hostilities for 60 days, unless Congress declares war, authorizes funding for the effort or extends the deadline.

Congress has not enacted legislation authorizing military involvement in Libya, and the White House has not made a public effort to comply with the rule.

Experts say this is the first time an American president has defied the War Powers Resolution’s deadline for participation in combat operations without any concurrent steps by Congress to fund or otherwise authorize the role.

And yet nobody is even bothering to report this. Apart from Mr. Tapper and CNN. Apparently this is not newsworthy according to the AP or the New York Times or the Washington Post.

While every administration since 1973 and some lawmakers have questioned the constitutionality of the resolution’s infringement on executive power, it has not been successfully challenged in court and remains the law of the land…

We should know by now that Mr. Obama is not particularly concerned about following "the law of the land."

With the House of Representatives on recess and Obama headed to Europe next week, many observers don’t see a speedy resolution to the issue and expressed disappointment at the impasse…

Congress is in recess even though have surpassed the debt limit, and according to the Democrat Party, we are facing a financial Armageddon? (In any case, you really have to wonder how can Congress cause so much damn trouble when they are always on vacation.)

Forty percent of Americans oppose U.S. military involvement in Libya, and among those, 65 percent disapprove of his handling of the situation so far, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted last month…

Forget the polls. Where is Code Pink? Where is Cindy Sheehan? Where is the media outrage at this out of control warmonger in the White House?

Even that ‘cowboy’ war criminal George Bush never went to war without Congressional approval.