The thrust of the issue: Does the President Ignore the will of the people? Of course, Tony's on full denial mode here.
Have a look:
Q Does the President think that the role of the Commander-in-Chief is so powerful that he can ignore the will of the people as manifested in the election and also in Congress?Well, let's see if I can't get my signing statement pen out and change the course of the will of the people one more time...
MR. SNOW: Helen, if you can find somebody who says that they want us to fail in Iraq, then perhaps --
Q That's not the question. I --
MR. SNOW: No, what you asked was a very vague question about the will of the people.
Q It's not vague.
MR. SNOW: Yes, it is, because if you want to talk --
Q I want you to -- do you think the power of a Commander-in-Chief is so all powerful that he can ignore the people?
MR. SNOW: The President never ignores the people. And that's why it's a tendentious assumption on your part that somehow the President runs roughshod over the will of the people. But he does have an obligation to keep the people safe --
Q -- ignored --
MR. SNOW: No, he doesn't -- if you get a non-binding resolution, he certainly is not going to ignore it. But on the other hand, he's going to do what it takes to keep you safe, and everybody in this room safe.
Q That's not the question.
MR. SNOW: Oh, yes, it is. Au contraire, Helen.
Q It is, is he going to ignore --
MR. SNOW: I got to tell you, you've got to understand in this particular case, when the President is thinking about national security, he understands the importance of opinion. He shares people's opinion that what's going on is --
Q (Inaudible.)
MR. SNOW: What do you think --
Q -- responded to it?
MR. SNOW: He's responded to it. He's responded to it by laying out a new way forward --
Q (Inaudible.)
MR. SNOW: Well, it will be interesting. Let's see how the debate unfolds and let's also see how facts on the ground unfold in Baghdad.
2 comments:
Article II. Section 1
MR. SNOW: The President never ignores the people. And that's why it's a tendentious assumption on your part that somehow the President runs roughshod over the will of the people. But he does have an obligation to keep the people safe --
Say What?
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
The President is supposed to protect the rule of law. The law is the people's protection. Not the President.
Ah, but the "President" makes his OWN "laws" when he adds signing statements to laws he signs. If he wants a "law" saying police can now strip search "swarthy looking" people on the street at their own discretion, he just signs it into some No Child Left Behind law. Nice and transparent right? Well what do you want, a free country? A democracy? A government that TRULY is a government of laws and not of men? Dream on. This is America.
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