The last two days brought a twofer regarding president Obama's disregard of federal law. Yesterday, Obama swapped prisoners from Guantanamo with the Taliban for American Bowe Bergdahl. Despite clear federal law that required the president to notify Congress at least 30 days before any prisoner was released or transferred out of Guantanamo, Obama went ahead with the trade without any prior notice to Congress. This is not one of those situations where Obama can later claim ignorance; he signed this law into effect less than a year ago. Obama just chose to ignore the requirements of federal law.
Today, we learned from the State Department that the Obama administration will not cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority even though it now is to be governed by a coalition including Hamas, a group that has long been designated as a terror organization by the USA. American law is quite clear that no foreign aid funds can be given to terrorists or groups containing terrorists. The law required an immediate cut off of all funds the moment that the Palestinians announced this new government. Obama, however, has chosen to ignore the law.
It may be that one or the other of these decisions are good choices from a policy standpoint; THAT DOES NOT MATTER. There are laws passed for a reason, and surprisingly for Obama, that reason is not so that the president has something to ignore. When Obama kept changing the rules for Obamacare, he justified his actions as phasing in the new law. That was not a power that he had, but at least, there was some possible justification even if it was incorrect. The latest two moves by Obama to ignore the law, however, cannot be justified. He is acting completely illegally.
The real truth is that Obama's actions here are impeachable offenses. No one is going to impeach him, but the failure to so act is just an acknowledgement that the Democrats in the Senate are willing to let Obama do pretty much whatever he wants. It is a terrible precedent to set. The president ought not be above the law; he swears to obey and enforce it; he should be held to that oath.
Today, we learned from the State Department that the Obama administration will not cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority even though it now is to be governed by a coalition including Hamas, a group that has long been designated as a terror organization by the USA. American law is quite clear that no foreign aid funds can be given to terrorists or groups containing terrorists. The law required an immediate cut off of all funds the moment that the Palestinians announced this new government. Obama, however, has chosen to ignore the law.
It may be that one or the other of these decisions are good choices from a policy standpoint; THAT DOES NOT MATTER. There are laws passed for a reason, and surprisingly for Obama, that reason is not so that the president has something to ignore. When Obama kept changing the rules for Obamacare, he justified his actions as phasing in the new law. That was not a power that he had, but at least, there was some possible justification even if it was incorrect. The latest two moves by Obama to ignore the law, however, cannot be justified. He is acting completely illegally.
The real truth is that Obama's actions here are impeachable offenses. No one is going to impeach him, but the failure to so act is just an acknowledgement that the Democrats in the Senate are willing to let Obama do pretty much whatever he wants. It is a terrible precedent to set. The president ought not be above the law; he swears to obey and enforce it; he should be held to that oath.
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